


His Master's Voice

by Zokolov



Series: Worlds Collide [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Government Conspiracy, Mystery, Pokemon Battles, Survival Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 73,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23784037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zokolov/pseuds/Zokolov
Summary: A research facility for Pokémon medicine is attacked by Team Rocket. A team of trainers is sent to deal with the situation while a Sandshrew is determined to escape at all costs. But the facility houses sinister secrets and an unknown enemy from another world is also in the facility. Prequel for 'When Worlds Collide' series.
Series: Worlds Collide [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713463





	1. Shrew

**HIS MASTER'S VOICE**

Mr. Fuji's volunteer house in Lavender Town was on full alert. One of the new volunteers who wished to care for abandoned Pokémon had stumbled upon a barely conscious Sandshrew on her way to start her first day of work. This particular Sandshrew had spent days without food and was badly bruised, with entire chunks of its dry, tough hide gone, exposing its vulnerable skin. Spotting the volunteer bursting in with a wounded Pokémon, Mr. Fuji acted immediately, putting the poor Pokémon on the couch, stabilizing its condition with a potion and wrapping it up with a blanket. The other volunteers in the house, still rather young and inexperienced with Pokémon, were wringing their hands and frantically pacing around, babbling about calling a nurse from the Pokémon Center.

"Why didn't you bring it straight to the Center?" Mr. Fuji asked calmly, silencing the others.

The volunteer, a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes, gulped nervously. Mr. Fuji didn't sound angry, but there was a certain quality to this old, frail man who made the volunteer feel shame.

"I, uh," she stuttered, "well the Pokémon Center was still a couple of blocks away… plus I thought you had supplies and volunteers… see, I'm not a nurse or a doctor or anything, but I am well versed in Pokémon biology, so I thought if I…"

"You found," Mr. Fuji glanced at the Sandshrew, " _him_ , so you wanted to cure him yourself. I just hope you haven't placed your scientific curiosity above this Pokémon's well-being, Miss…"

"Oh, uh, Greene," the volunteer babbled, surprised that Fuji was able to tell the Sandshrew's gender when even Leaf had difficulties with it. "Leaf Greene. I work… _worked_ at the Pewter Museum, and… well, now I decided to come here. If that's okay with you…?"

"Do what you can to him," Mr. Fuji said simply, then addressed the other volunteers. "Give our newest volunteer some space, please, but assist her if it's required."

Leaf sighed in relief and leaned over the Sandshrew while grabbing a first aid kit from her shoulder bag. The potion Mr. Fuji had administered had dulled the Sandshrew's pain, and it was starting to relax, but it still writhed around and occasionally let out a squeak. Only one of its eyes was open, and it didn't seem to have any idea about its surroundings.

Finally, when Leaf started treating the Sandshrew's injuries, the Pokémon finally fell asleep. But even then, it couldn't escape what happened…

**~o~O~o~**

_**Vermilion City, Kanto (three days earlier)** _

It was already dark out, but the harbor was as busy as ever, with cargo ships passing in and out and dock workers yelled at each other. A tall, red-haired man wearing a black cape stood on a pier at Vermilion Harbor. Though the dock workers gave him quizzical looks, they were quick to move on when the eleven-foot Dragonite next to the man glared at them right back.

The man was Lance, champion of the Indigo League for two years now. He was once the leader the Indigo League's Elite Four, but when the last champion, Red, stepped down and later disappeared without a trace, Lance was promoted in his place. Not only a powerful Pokémon trainer who descended from the respected Blackthorn Dragon Clan, Lance was once also a member of the International Police, and was now in charge of maintaining order in the Kanto and Johto regions – at any cost. Lance ignored people's whispering and staring around him as he checked the time from is pocket watch. The man he was waiting for hadn't arrived.

Finally, a dock worker approached him, though he did it as slowly as possible, shooting worried glances in the Dragonite's direction.

"Mr. Lance," he started uncertainly, "there's, uh… a package for you."

Lance frowned, but didn't say anything as four more dock workers arrived, carrying around a large wooden crate large enough to fit two full-grown men inside it. As they lowered the crate next to Lance, the first dock worker gave a paper and a pen to the champion.

"It was sent from Gateon Port, Orre," the dock worker explained. "Came on a cargo ship a half hour ago. If would just sign here… and here… here… here… here and there. Thanks!"

Not wanting to stay in the presence of the intimidating Dragonite any longer, the five dock workers quickly left, leaving Lance to wonder about the crate he had apparently ordered. But before he could order his Dragonite to smash it open, something from within the crate kicked the lid out. Though Lance's expression remained blank, he had to take an involuntary step backwards as a man climbed out of the crate, visibly shaken.

"Whoa," he exhaled as he landed on the pier, staggering like a drunkard – looking and smelling like one too. He hadn't shaved in days, apparently. After getting his balance together, the man dusted himself off and adjusted his brown trench coat. He was dressed almost exactly like a cowboy, though he didn't have a hat, and in place of a revolver, there were six Poké Balls. Though shorter and younger than Lance, the man was in good shape. He had tanned skin, messy dark blonde hair and bright golden brown eyes, plus a fair amount of scars.

"Oh, hey, guy," he introduced himself, as if he had just spotted Lance. "You seen the champion 'round here somewhere? I was s'posed to meet him. You know the guy, right? Smug, superior, emotionless… kinda looks like you!"

Lance scowled and opened his mouth in protest, but the man cut him off by laughter.

"I'm just screwing with ya, I know it's you," he laughed and slapped Lance's back. "You think I've never read a newspaper before? I've read at least two!"

Lance sighed. " _You're_ the, er… freelancer I hired? Wesley Marston?"

"Please, uh, Wes is fine," the cowboy said and enthusiastically shook hands with Lance. "Folks don't call me Wesley. Ever."

Lance looked around him and led Wes further away from curious ears. He nodded at his Dragonite, who saluted its owner and instantly jumped up in the air, flying a few feet above Wes and Lance and keeping an eye out for eavesdroppers.

The moment they were out of earshot, Lance started talking to Wes as quickly as he could: "Normally, I wouldn't be seeking help from people like you, but we're in the middle of a crisis here. I understood you've been 'handling' situations related to Cipher and Team Snagem back in Orre?"

Wes smiled proudly. "Yes, sir, I have," he said and gave Lance a mock salute. "If there's a better Pokémon bounty hunter in the world, they're dead."

"Yes, yes, I have no idea what a 'Pokémon bounty hunter' does, but these are desperate times," Lance said hurriedly and looked around him again before continuing. "A research facility near the Sevii Islands was taken over about twelve hours ago. All communications are cut, but the administrator managed to send a brief emergency message directly to the Elite Four before that. According to the message, they have almost fifty hostages there."

Wes folded his arms and tried to look more professional as he responded. "What are their demands?" he asked. "And what kind of lab is it?"

"No demands have been made," Lance said, "and it's an R&D lab for Pokémon medicine. It's pretty valuable, so maybe they're after their products instead."

Wes stared at Lance for a while, but Lance stared right back, without blinking or changing his expression at all. Even then, Wes wasn't satisfied. "How come I haven't heard anything about this? Shouldn't the International Police handle this? There has to be something else here."

"There is," Lance said quietly and turned to look at the ships in the harbor. "According to the message we received… Team Rocket is behind this."

"Team… _The_ Team Rocket?" Wes asked incredulously. " _The_ The Team Rocket? _The the_ the… wait, I lost my track of thought…"

"The same ones who tried to take over Silph's headquarters two and a half years ago, yes," Lance replied.

"Yeah, I remember that," Wes scoffed. "Everyone was counting on you and the Elite Four to save the day. Instead, some teen and a Pikachu came in and drove 'em off. A week later, the same kid kicks your asses in the Pokémon League. Not one of your proudest moments, I reckon?"

Lance didn't seem bothered at all, so Wes moved on to something else that bothered him. "So why're y'all asking me for? Don't you have other people for these situations? Uh, I mean, not that I mind or anything… y'know. Just wondering. Not like I'm taking this job without more information."

"Since you're not from Kanto, you can't possibly understand the situation we had during Team Rocket's uprising," Lance said evenly, still staring at the ships. "It seemed like Giovanni had his nose in everything. You had to watch out what you said, where you went and even what you thought. Fear led to widespread apathy, and that's exactly what Giovanni was aiming for. When Kanto's largest city was invaded, everyone else thought that the situation wasn't their problem. 'At least they're not here anymore', they thought. Even the citizens of Saffron were quietly resigned to the situation, as everyone was waiting for someone else to act."

Wes yawned. "Should I care about any of this?"

"The point is," Lance said, now visibly frustrated, "if people start hearing rumors about Team Rocket's sudden return, there'll be chaos all over Kanto and the Sevii Islands again. They've been keeping a low profile for these last two and a half years, and every time we capture one of their former members, it makes us look good and makes the people trust us. That's why we need to handle this discreetly, and that means hiring someone who can get things done… unconventionally."

"Gotcha, I can be discreet," Wes nodded. "Kill them up good, but do it quietly. Kidding!" he added when Lance was about to protest. "I'll do my best to minimize casualties or whatever. I'm assuming I'm not going alone?"

"I sent a unit divided into two teams to deal with the situation as soon as I got the message," Lance said. "We haven't heard anything from the first team, and the second team is standing by on Floe Island. Join up with them and they'll fill you in on the rest. Commander Marshal from the Unova Elite Four is in charge there, so report to him. My Dragonite will take you there immediately."

Lance's Dragonite landed next to Wes immediately upon hearing its name. It grudgingly knelt so Wes could climb on its back.

"Whoa, hold it!" Wes said quickly as Lance was about to leave. "Before I do anything, what am I getting for this? A hug? A medal and a pat on the shoulder? All the Poffins I can eat? Well, I might consider that first one if you do it, but even then I need some cash to be properly motivated!"

Lance just nodded at his Dragonite who grabbed a large duffel bag it had been hiding under its wing and tossed it to Wes' feet. As Wes opened the bag, his eyes widened at the sight of stacks of money, all piled on top of objects that interested Wes even more than the money."

"Rare ribbons…" Wes muttered as he perused through the bag. "Diamond-crusted Poké Balls… legendary artifacts… gym leader Misty's original shorts, the fanboys will pay a lot for these…"

"All of it, including the money, has been confiscated from various Team Rocket hideouts the IP has uncovered after the gang's fall," Lance explained. "They kept the stuff for 'evidence', but I managed to pull some favors and get a hold of most of them. They're yours…"

Dragonite quickly snatched the bag from Wes.

"…once the job is done," Lance said with finality. "The choice is yours."

Wes contemplated for a while. The mission sounded dangerous… though he probably wouldn't do it if it wasn't. With the money he would get by fencing all those goodies, he could easily retire and move to Hoenn… not that he would. How often does one find a job he enjoys so much? Plus all the money could really help his…

Well, they would really help.

"I'll do it," Wes said. " _But_ how do I know you won't double-cross me? You're the law 'round here, if I come back to try and get those items, y'all can have me arrested!"

"And what would stop _y'all_ from talking about this once you're done?" Lance countered. "You keep quiet about all this, you'll get them. You fail to stay true to your word once you get your reward… we have ways of taking it back. With interest."

"Shake on it," Wes said.

Wes and Lance approached each other very carefully, glaring at each other all the way as they shook hands very quickly. Not wanting to waste more time, Wes climbed on the Dragonite's back. Before the massive dragon spread its wings and rocketed into the night sky, Wes still heard Lance yelling something, but he had to focus entirely on getting a firm grip from Dragonite's neck before the airflow knocked him off the Pokémon's back.

 _He probably just told me to be careful or something_ , Wes thought. _And I always am! I'll try to wreak as little havoc as possible._

 _Though that's kinda boring_.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Navel Rock Research Facility, Sevii Islands, twelve hours ago** _

_Fire…_

That was the first thing Sandshrew noticed as he woke up. The second was that he had been knocked out of his cage. As always, the yellow Pokémon found himself in a large, windowless laboratory with Pokémon cages littered all over the place. But the place was usually sterile and quiet, with men in white coats walking around and the Pokémon kept controlled in their cages. The food controlled them somehow, but it hadn't affected Sandshrew nearly as much – he had already resigned to his fate. Some new arrivals resisted loudly at first, but they eventually fell quiet. They always did.

Now there were no humans around and a loud alarm sound blared from the speakers. Sandshrew had only heard it once during a fire drill… but the flames around the lab and the enormous hole in the wall somehow told him that this wasn't one.

Some of the Pokémon weren't quiet anymore either. A few cages close to Sandshrew had opened, and some of the newer arrivals inside were quickly scattering towards the hole in the wall. Others that were still locked up were trashing and wailing in their cages, filling the lab with miscellaneous sounds of terrified, pained Pokémon. The cages in the furthest corner of the room were already ablaze – Sandshrew didn't even want to look there.

Before Sandshrew could move an inch, the alarm sound stopped, replaced by the familiar, terrified voice of a human coming from every speaker in the room:

" _This is Professor Krane! All personnel in the lower levels, evacuate immediately! Team Rocket members have stormed the facility! The guards have been… oh, God… just, quick, hurry and save yourselves!_ "

Team Rocket… Sandshrew had heard the name before. In the first place he remembered after hatching – the laboratory on Cinnabar.

" _I was in the administrator's office, managed to send out a warning before they cut me off. I don't know what happened to him… they'll find me soon. If the elevators and trams still work, get out now! Swim if you have to. I've got to-_ "

The rest of Krane's speech became static-y and hard to hear over the terrified, ever amplifying cries of the Pokémon still trapped in their cages. Those whose cages were broken had run off by now. Sandshrew hesitated a moment – Krane was the only decent human in the facility… but if only there was the possibility of seeing freedom again… for the first time since hatching.

 _Screw him_.

But just as Sandshrew made his way towards the hole in the wall, a weak voice from a nearby cell startled him. It belonged to a Cyndaquil in a cage next to the wall. Sandshrew froze in place when he heard the Cyndaquil's quiet moans. Even through the cries of the Pokémon and the crackles of the fire, Sandshrew could hear it very clearly.

She was asking for help. Just like Sandshrew had done when the Cyndaquil was still staying in the cage next to him. Sandshrew had bitten one of the scientists, and as a punishment, he was kept without food for two days. But even though she had been in the facility longer than him, the Cyndaquil had shared her food with him, keeping him alive. As a punishment, Cyndaquil had been moved further away from Sandshrew, effectively isolating him from the other Pokémon.

Shrew stared at Cyndaquil's cage for a second, then the hole that led to freedom. Then he groaned loudly.

 _Being good sucks_.


	2. United We Stand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wes, a freelance Pokémon bounty hunter and problem solver, is called into assist the task force while Shrew and Cyndaquil escape through berserk Pokémon and a crumbling facility.

**Chapter Two:** _**United We Stand** _

_**Floe Island, Sevii Islands** _

Wes walked around the docks of Floe Island, the fourth island in the Sevii archipelago. It was past 9 PM and it was getting increasingly dark outside, so Wes was alone. There were several boats parked around, all of them gently rocking in the waves, but Wes had forgotten to ask Lance which one he was supposed to seek out. There were no attack helicopters there either, which made Wes wonder just what kind of task force had Lance sent there.

Wes gazed into the horizon – the peak of Navel Rock was somewhat visible even from this distance. But there was no smoke pouring out, no police helicopters circling around, no panicked citizens trying to get a good look of the action – all usual stuff during Wes' previous operations. He had lived his entire life in Orre, hired by entrepreneurs and local law enforcement agents to help deal with problems related to Orre's criminal gangs. Wes knew them better than anyone – largely because he joined Team Snagem at age 16.

But something changed. As always, it had to do with a girl. Rui, the only person in the world Wes still cared about other than his mother and sister, who worked at the Pokémon HQ Lab.

Wes had to stop reminiscing as someone waved at him from the opposite end of the pier. Thinking he had found his contact, Wes took a few steps forward.

 _Probably some obnoxious, military no-neck with… hey_!

Instead, Wes was approached by a tall brown-haired woman wearing shorts that had apparently once been jeans. She had a sort of no-nonsense look to her, making Wes even more eager to see her. He quickly adjusted his hair, sucked his stomach in and tried to remember his best pick-up lines.

"Hi," Wes said cheerily as he got closer to her, "I-"

"Yeah, yeah, get in the sub," the girl replied quickly and shoved Wes forward. "Hurry it up, someone can come in any minute!"

 _Well, darn_.

"The what?" Wes asked. "Uh, hi, I'm Wes, I was sent to-"

"Hilda White," the girl hissed – Wes assumed she was telling her name. "Lieutenant. Now come on!"

"Yes, ma'am," Wes said sarcastically and followed her to an empty spot of water between two boats. "Wait, do I call you 'ma'am'? Or 'Lieutenant', or 'LT', or 'Ms. White', or 'Lieutenant White', or 'you there' or-"

"People just call me Hilda," she said again, and Wes finally shut his mouth.

But he opened it again in shock as something unexpectedly emerged from the sea: it was a submarine about the size of a van, with about half of it above the surface of the water, allowing the hatch to be opened from the inside. Before Wes could ask any further questions, Hilda grabbed him roughly and shoved him towards the sub. Watching his step, Wes climbed on the submarine and carefully made his way inside. Hilda followed right behind him and closed the hatch behind her.

Descending down a small ladder, Wes finally saw the interior of the submarine. About a second later, he knew he had to get out. Not only was the place dimly lit and cramped, it smelled like sweat and something utterly incomprehensible. There were three small circular windows on both sides of the sub and a large one at the bow, where the controls were. The passenger "seats" consisted of two narrow wooden benches attached below the windows, one on both side. There was also a chair near the periscope, crammed between the controls and the passenger compartment.

Not only that, but the sub was full of people who stared at him expectantly. Years of working alone at the Orre desert didn't leave Wes with much time to socialize. Talking with one person at a time was easy, but the sub contained eight people plus Wes himself.

Fortunately, he didn't have to hold a speech, as an incredibly large, muscular man with orange hair stumbled towards him, unable to stand properly in the confined space. Wes recognized him immediately: it was Marshal of the Unova Elite Four, only dressed in combat gear instead of his usual attire. Wes extended his arm to shake hands with him, but Marshal merely glared.

"Let me just say that if I was in charge of the operation, I would not have brought a civilian along," Marshal said rudely. "But, Lance said you have an impressive track record, and we'll take all the help we can get, so I'll make an exception. In the team, our first rule is that no one is left behind. But as you're not part of the team… screw up, and we'll leave you. Got it?"

"You're not this charming on TV," Wes muttered.

Marshal just nodded and looked over Wes' shoulder at Hilda, who nodded at the commander before sitting on one of the benches at the left side of the sub. Marshal sat on the chair by the periscope.

 _Port side_ , Wes reminded himself. _No, wait…_

"Get us over there, Dock," Marshal ordered the bald, middle-aged man at the controls. "We've wasted enough time. You, Wes, you'll just have to stand. There's some handles in the ceiling next to the windows."

Wes awkwardly positioned himself near the starboard window and grabbed the handle as instructed. He was uncomfortably close to another girl: a pretty, blue-eyed brunette just like Hilda, although her hair was styled to strange Princess Leia-like double buns. In stark contrast to Hilda, the girl smiled at Wes warmly, and he returned the gesture, awkwardly aware that Hilda was glaring at him the entire time.

"I guess introductions are in order," Marshal grunted and pointed at the man near the controls. "That there's Dock, chosen on this mission mostly because he's the only person we could find who can use a submarine."

"Yo," Dock said cheerfully. "Though it's actually a sub _mersible,_ since we can't operate underwater for more than two hours at best."

Everyone rolled their eyes – apparently he had made this distinction before.

"How many subwhatevers have you, uh, piloted, Dock?" Wes asked.

"Including this?" Dock asked, and Wes nodded. "One. I just started today. But I've done many simulations. Oh, and I loved diving as a kid. And I own a Vaporeon. I think I got it."

Wes smiled and nodded and privately wondered if the bounty Lance was offering was really worth all this.

"You're currently with Team Alpha," Marshal explained. "Beta went in first and we've been sitting on this island for almost eight hours straight. That," Marshal pointed at Hilda," is Hilda White, the leader of the Alpha team. Next to her is Hilbert, our comm. specialist."

A pale, young man with messy brown hair and brown eyes nodded at Wes, who nodded back curtly. _He's kinda cute... though he's sitting awfully close to Hilda._

"He and Ms. White are, well, close," Marshal said, smiling for the first time since Wes arrived, as if reading Wes' thoughts, "so you'll often see her yelling at the others while Hilbert sits back and watches."

The others laughed at their expense. Hilbert smiled nervously while Hilda buried her face with her cap. Marshal nonetheless continued on professionally.

"Next to Hilbert is our new medic, Amarillo."

'Amarillo', whose face was obscured by a large straw hat, didn't seem to react to Wes' presence at all. Wes decided to just nod and allow Marshal to move on.

"You're standing next to Rosa, Alpha's second-in-command," Marshal continued, and the girl with Leia hair smiled at Wes again. "Next to her is Buck, our explosives specialist." A laid-back, red-haired man waved at Wes. "And finally, our technical expert, Jasmine."

Wes had to lean to the left a bit to get a good look of Jasmine, who was almost entirely covered by Buck. Wes only caught a glimpse of the mousy, brown-haired Jasmine as she nervously smiled at Wes, then blushed and quickly turned away.

Wes had to suppress a sigh. _For once I have to work with a team and it's full of weirdoes. Apart from Marshal and Dock, these guys can't be older than 20!_

 _Well, neither am I_ , Wes thought, _but… still._

Dock muttered to himself as he looked at the various monitors and meters on the dashboard and flipped switches. "Hmm… engines, check… life support, check… electronics, check… radar, operational… controls, check… periscope, down… pressure a-ok. Closing all hull openings… done."

Dock looked at the panel next to him – all of the dozens of little lights on it were green. He gave a thumbs-up to Marshal, who nodded and grabbed on to another handle.

"The radio is fine," Marshal said. "Take us out of here."

"Gotcha," Dock replied, focusing intently on the controls. "Opening vent valves… propellers on… here we go!"

Wes noticed that the rest of the passengers looked slightly greenish, apart from 'Amarillo', who appeared to be either sleeping or meditating – though Wes couldn't see the medic's face anyway. He watched in awe as the lights in the submarine dimmed even more as they submerged. Wes expected a nudge of some sort, but instead, the sub started moving smoothly forward, the docks of Floe Island quickly behind them. Dock seemed to know what he was doing, though Wes noticed that the thing he used to control the sub's rudders seemed to be a steering wheel from an old car.

"We should be there in five minutes," Marshal told Wes. "Thanks to the modifications they made on the engine, this baby is the only sub _mersible_ capable of reaching Navel Rock. The currents around these parts are deadly. Hardly any ships sail around here, either."

"What's the plan?" Wes asked Marshal – this was really the only thing he needed to know: what the others were doing. The rest he'd make up on the spot.

"Beta was sent there twelve hours ago," Marshal explained. "Normally, we'd be the ones they send first while Beta lays in reserve, but Lance changed the order at the last minute. I'll fill you in on the details as soon as we get a visual on the facility. Shouldn't take long."

Wes nodded, then looked around the sub, cleared his throat and tried to come up with something witty to say, especially with Rosa and Hilda in the vicinity.

"So, we're all a lovely bunch of clichés here," he said cheerfully. "Say, which one of you guys is gonna die first, whaddya think?"

The whole team, including Jasmine, stared at Wes in horror.

"You know, there's always the one," Wes explained. "I'm not a part of you guys and I don't have any loved ones waiting for me, so I should be safe. Anyone carry around a photo of their loved one? Or has anyone gotten hitched recently? So they have a girlfriend or boyfriend they can talk about wistfully just before a Team Rocket grunt's Raticate starts gnawing on their innards?"

Wes heard a heavy sigh from behind him. Rosa looked very anxious all of a sudden.

"Nate, Rosa's boyfriend, was the leader of the Beta team," Marshal clarified. "We're going to assume they have been KIA."

"You guys and your acronyms, just say that they're dead," Wes grumbled and shook his head as the team glared him. "What, it's not my job to keep up the morale!"

"Look, it's okay, guys," Rosa mumbled, though she was staring at her shoes. "We don't know anything yet, they could be-"

But she was interrupted as the sub suddenly started shaking violently. Wes had to grab the handle with both hands while the others almost tumbled on the floor. 'Amarillo' still hadn't noticed anything, apparently. Marshal, who almost bumped his face into the periscope, gave Dock a nasty look, but the shakes stopped almost immediately.

"I don't know what it was!" Dock protested nervously. "But whatever it was, it fried our radar, and the radio's dead. All the other systems seem to working fine, though. I can still get us in, but we have to go through the front door."

"Yay," Wes deadpanned.

"Not necessarily," Marshal mumbled. "Just keep going."

"Probably some kind of jamming device Team Rocket's made," Hilbert said. "Creates a sort of bubble where no transmissions can get in or out. Or maybe it's part of the lab's equipment, but it's something they chose not to tell us."

"But…" Rosa suddenly sounded hopeful and stared at her teammates with wide eyes. "That explains why we lost contact with the others. They could-"

"I'm not going to sit here and guess," Marshal grunted. "Take us a bit closer to the surface, Dock. Up periscope!"

Dock pressed a button on the dashboard while Marshal grabbed the periscope's handles and raised it manually. He looked through the lenses intently for a few seconds, then signaled Wes to take a look. Wes squeezed past the team members as well as he could and glimpsed into the periscope.

The Naval Rock Research Facility was in sight, the actual facility built in the shadow of a tall mountain. The facility itself was smaller than Wes imagined – just a small, L-shaped, two-story building. Wes had even seen motels bigger than that. When Wes was done, Marshal quickly pulled the periscope back down.

"I guess it's time to announce our plan," Marshal announced and tried to stand as tall as he could in the middle of the submarine.

Marshal pressed a few buttons on his Pokétch, which suddenly generated a glowing, 3D-image of the research facility in the middle of the sub. All eyes except Dock's were on Marshal – even Amarillo had apparently woken up. The medic had blonde hair and bright, yellow-tinted eyes, and they watched Wes in a way that made him felt like they could hear his thoughts, making Wes turn away.

"I think it's time to tell you the full story about the lab, Wes," Marshal said. "The two upper floors are just there to conceal anything suspicious. The actual facilities for developing potions and other medicine are in the first floor basement."

The image shifted to a view of the lab's interior. Beneath two L-shaped floors was the basement facility, which was much larger.

"But that's not all," Marshal said. "This place is actually owned by a dummy corporation of Silph Co. Some of the more… _clandestine_ research goes on in the levels even below that."

Two additional underground levels showed up in the image.

"And in case those were ever compromised," Marshal continued, "the second-floor basement of the main facility contains a tramway that connects to three more laboratories that are apparently built deep inside the mountain. I don't know what's going on in there, and it's not our job to find out. Our objective is to rescue the hostages, take out Team Rocket and if there's time…" Marshal briefly looked at Rosa. "…find out what happened to the others."

Wes saw Rosa smile at Marshal in relief. Apparently the last part wasn't a part of the "official objectives". Not that it mattered to Wes – he was mostly focused on other opportunities. He wasn't exactly sure what 'clandestine' meant, but even he realized that the lab was working on something they didn't want people to find out. And that meant he could pick up something ten times more valuable than what Lance was offering him.

"There are several ways in," Marshal explained. "They've mostly certainly barricaded the front door, but there are three employee entrances around the facility, so one of them's got to be a weak point. The Beta team used a chopper to go in through the roof. The chopper might still be in there, but either way, we can't go in that way. Our initial plan was to use the airlock specifically built for submarines in the second floor basement, but without radar, we'd have to spend too much time looking for it manually. Plus if they have sentries around the perimeter, they'll immediately notice the headlights."

Wes had to hold back a yawn. However, there was something that he wasn't yet clear on.

"Hang on a sec," he interrupted. "Say that we manage to get anyone out of there alive… we can't exactly cram anyone else into this sub, and your helicopter could be in pieces by now… are we going to swim back to Floe? 'Cuz the currents are pretty nasty around here."

"I was just getting to that," Marshal said as patiently as he could. "The third floor basement contains a teleportation chamber…"

" _What_?" Wes had heard some crazy stuff in his time, but…

"Silph Co has been studying teleportation for decades," Marshal said. "If the Pokémon can do it, why not us? They initially built small warp pads to ease the travel between Silph's different departments, then eventually succeeded in developing a long-distance teleportation device. This should allow instantaneous travel between Silph Co's headquarters and the Navel Rock base. If any of the scientists are still alive, they can use it, though we obviously have to clean the place from Rockets before that. If they're not… well, that's what Jasmine is here for. Don't let her manner deceive you, Wes. She can take care of herself, being a gym leader and all."

Jasmine was so flustered by Marshal's praise that she blushed and had to turn away from everyone.

"You think the Rockets got in that way?" Wes inquired.

"Impossible," Marshal said firmly. "Ever since Silph's takeover, they have increased security and all collaborators who worked with Team Rocket were fired."

"But you assume TR knows about the teleport?"

"Yes. The only explanation for their easy takeover is that they know the specifics of the facility."

Wes expected more information, but apparently Marshal had moved on, as he pressed a button on his Pokétch that made the map vanish.

"I've uploaded the map to your Pokétches," he said. "Wes, since you don't have one, you'll just have to keep up."

"Do you have any idea what they're after?" Wes asked Marshal.

"Could be ransom," Marshal shrugged. "Maybe they're just debating on what to ask. Who knows with these freaks – we never found out what exactly they were after when they first invaded Silph."

"Kind of strange of them to attack today of all these days," Buck said suddenly – Wes was surprised by the softness of his voice. Based on his looks, Wes was quick to judge him as a douchebag who crushed beer cans on his forehead.

"Whaddya mean?" Wes asked.

"Oh, here we go," Hilda sighed, but Buck ignored her.

"Tomorrow's the fifth Millenia Festival," Buck explained. "Tomorrow, it has been exactly five thousand years since the Original One, Arceus, banished its dark counterpart, Giratina, to the Distortion World. Most offices are usually closed during that time."

"You a religious man?" Wes asked.

Buck shrugged. "Never thought about it until I saw that church back in Hearthome City, Sinnoh. It really made me wonder about stuff… you know, all of life's mysteries. My dad's a priest back there. I was born in Sinnoh, actually, at the Survival Area. My brother's in the Elite Four, so I thought I had to join in something almost as great."

"Taking her up now," Dock told Marshal, who nodded and started talking quickly, cutting off whatever else Buck may have had to say.

"You'll go in through one of the staff doors. They won't be expecting you, but they're still probably guarding the entrances pretty tightly. Hilda, Buck and Jasmine will take one door, Rosa, Hilbert, Amarillo and Wes will take another. Then regroup once the first floor has been taken care of. And Wes, I want no 'I work alone'-crap from you!"

"I'm appalled by the suggestion?" Wes said in faux-shock. "I would never turn down valuable meat shields! But say, aren't you coming? You're our big, muscular Commander and all"

"I'll stay in the sub and coordinate the operation," Marshal said.

"Yeah, he has a bad back," Hilda quipped.

Marshal ignored the remark. "At any rate, I need to pull your asses out of the fire in case the crud hits the propellers. We need a getaway vehicle after all, though sadly this thing doesn't even have weapons. It was built for 'peaceful exploration'" Marshal even made air-quotes as he said the last part, which made Wes cringe.

 _So_ he's _the obnoxious, military no-neck. He does remind me of Lt. Surge in a way_.

"Do any of y'all have any experience with these things?" Wes asked suddenly as the team checked their Poké Balls and Pokétches – Wes assumed that those watches could be used for offensive purposes somehow.

"I've been taking down criminals in Unova since I was 17," Marshal said proudly. "Master Alder trained me personally. I also took down that group of Pokémon Pinchers in Oblivia a few years back. Hah, the Rangers were going to call a task force to clean them out – instead, they just needed me. That's what they get for focusing more on farming than fighting."

Wes rolled his eyes. "Yeah, what about the people who aren't staying behind to 'coordinate'? Is that what they call it these days?"

Before anyone could answer, Marshal was ready with a reply: "They've been trained for precisely these kinds of situations. Their Pokémon are in peak physical conditions and they've been doing combat simulations day and night."

"So that'd be a no," Wes said. "My confidence in this plan is growing all the time."

"Um, a-about that," Jasmine said quietly – Wes was shocked to hear that she could actually talk. As everyone stared at her, Jasmine's voice became even quieter. "I was just w-wondering, if, um… I could stay behind and help Dock with… all those scary buttons?"

Before anyone could answer, a loud splash was heard. The submarine was up.

"You better get moving," Marshal said. "We gotta dive again and hide the sub. I'll be staying in contact, though. Good luck, everyone."

**~o~O~o~**

_**Navel Rock Research Facility, Sevii Islands, twelve hours ago** _

With a swift slash, Sandshrew destroyed the lock of Cyndaquil's cage. However, the fire-type didn't move anywhere. It stayed at the back of the cage, curled up in something almost resembled a fetal position. Shrew noticed that the flames usually sticking out of the Cyndaquil's back were missing.

"Come on!" Shrew squealed. "If you want to end up a well done steak, then I won't argue, but if you want out, this is your last chance!"

When Cyndaquil replied, its voice was incredibly weak and pleading. "I can take the fire… but the screaming… please…"

"Just grab my paw!" Shrew squeaked loudly, as though wanting to drown out the increasing volume of the shrieks and trashing of the Pokémon around them.

Far too slowly for Shrew's liking, Cyndaquil allowed Shrew to grab its paw, then roughly drag the fire-type out of its cell. However, instead of instinctively rushing towards the exit, the Cyndaquil just stayed in place, shivering. Shrew hissed, but nonetheless grabbed both of Cyndaquil's paws and hauled the little Pokémon on its back. Unfortunately, Shrew was a little Pokémon itself, almost losing its balance as it started to make its way out of the burning lab.

"Wait!" Cyndaquil sneaked just as they had reached the hole in the wall. "What about… we can't just leave them…"

Shrew's answer was cut off by an explosion and pieces of machinery flying everywhere. The blast knocked over many cages and silenced many screams.

"This is place is either going to burn down or fall apart!" Shrew yelled. "We're going!"

And Shrew ran as fast as it could. Ignoring the falling rubble, Cyndaquil's weak protests, the sounds of distant screaming and explosions, Shrew sprinted out of the lab, across the hallway and into the first room he came across. Making sure they were safe, Shrew let Cyndaquil drop and closed the door behind him.

The room they were in now had cages too. Worse yet, they were all empty. With no windows on and all lights apparently fried, the room was instead illuminated by dozens of computer monitors.

Shrew looked at the Cyndaquil – a female one, Shrew noticed – who didn't move anywhere, just "looked" at Shrew sadly.

"Why did you save me?" she asked. "There were so many others in that lab… now they're all going to…"

"Would it have been better if I left you there?" Shrew wondered.

"I don't think I can move properly," Cyndaquil lamented. "I'll just be a burden on you. And there were dozens of Pokémon still there… they would be more helpful if you're trying to leave…"

 _What was her problem_? Shrew thought. He had just saved her and himself from being impaled by falling debris, getting burned to a crisp or ending up as the lunch of some berserk Pokémon, but so far Shrew hadn't even heard a 'thank you'. He was about to yell something at the fire mouse when the loudspeakers crackled again, and a human voice, female this time, echoed in the lab:

" _This is Dr. Faust. I've managed to find a place to hide with some security guards. Everyone still alive, stay where you are! We've just received word that the Elite Four sent a team to rescue us. I repeat, stay where you are! Do no engage the Rockets! Help the rescue team any way you-_ "

The broadcast was cut off. The message was probably intended to be assuring, but it made Shrew more anxious than he was before.

Seconds later, a door was opened at the opposite end of the room. Shrew quickly pulled Cyndaquil to his side as he hid under a table. In desperation, Shrew quietly pulled a waste paper bin closer to himself so it could cover him and Cyndaquil at least partially.

Four humans, all wearing identical black uniforms with big, red R's on their shirts, entered the room, one of them scanning the lab with a flashlight while another had a Raticate on a leash. The Raticate sniffed around the room, making unsettling growling and sputtering noises.

_Team Rocket…_

"Did you hear that just now?" a male Rocket asked. "I could deal with these three-hundred pound security guards, but a strike team? No one told us about that!"

"Get your panties off your crack, they're only in the first floor. Come on, Raticate, get the scent! There's bound to be a straggler or a few here!"

"I know our Raticate needs insides to gnaw on but I think we're in the wrong floor. The _orb_ -thingy or whatever they sent us to pick up is in the floor below us."

The frenzied Raticate knocked over a table only a few feet away. Shrew became nervously aware of how loud his breathing was and covered Cyndaquil's mouth with his paw.

"Just my kind of job. Let the others do the fighting, I'll just pick up some… uh, what the hell _is_ it anyway?"

"Whatever it is, the execs want it bad enough to put Domino in charge of this mission. And she will have your balls for lunch if you don't hurry it up!"¨

The Raticate suddenly stopped sniffing and stared directly at the table Sandshrew and Cyndaquil were hiding under. Shrew closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.

"Fine," the Rocket handling the Raticate groaned. "Come on!" she yelled at the Pokémon who was desperately trying to claw its way towards Sandshrew and Cyndaquil.

Shrew didn't breathe or open his eyes even when he heard the door closing behind the Rockets and the sounds of their footsteps fading. Even when he heard only the quiet humming of the computers, it took almost a minute for Shrew to get his act together. Though he took a deep breathe and got up to sit, he didn't leave his safe spot under the table. Cyndaquil was still on the ground, only shivering slightly.

"Are you okay?" Shrew asked her.

"Y-yeah…" Cyndaquil gulped. "Did you hear that broadcast? Maybe we should just stay here…"

"Rescue team, right," Shrew scoffed. "We're in a lab run by crazy humans that's currently crawling with crazier humans and apparently invaded by possibly even crazier humans most likely killing everyone in sight. We have to go."

"You shouldn't talk like that about the people working here," Cyndaquil said softly. "They've given us food, shelter, occasionally let us exercise…"

Shrew stared at Cyndaquil.

"Given us… are you insane?" Shrew squealed. "You've been through all of this, spending your days locked in a cage, the injections, the experiments, food that apparently made you unable to run."

Cyndaquil remained calm. "Well… we have to earn that food and shelter somehow. Without these humans, I would have died. My… my mother, a Typhlosion, abandoned me before I hatched. These people took me in. I should be grateful."

"Or they abducted your mom for testing and decided to take your egg as snack for the road," Shrew said mercilessly. "You probably hatched when those humans were arguing over whether they wanted their eggs scrambled or boiled."

Cyndaquil didn't seem to be bothered. She wasn't shivering as much as anymore and sounded less fearful when she turned towards Shrew. "Well… how did you end up here, then?"

"I…" Shrew stared at Cyndaquil in silence for a moment. "What's your name?" he asked suddenly.

"M-my… um, I don't… I'm a Cyndaquil…"

"I'm gonna call you Quill," Shrew said. "I know it's probably a human thing, but if we're going to pull through, we need to trust each other. Now I know a little about you. I'm Shrew, by the way. Well, some call me that. I guess I can start doing it too."

Now it was Quill's turn to stare at Shrew in silence. Then, slowly, she sat up and smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Shrew," Quill said. "What's your story?"

"Not terribly different from yours," Shrew answered thoughtfully. "I was born near the Indigo Plateau. All I remember about it was that it was dry. Some kind of prairie in the middle of nowhere, I guess. Didn't see many humans, as the place was still far from the Pokémon League or whatever they call it. I'd probably just been hatched for a few weeks when I first saw them… machines, hundreds of them, controlled by scientists or something, some kind of tubes sucking Pokémon right off the ground by the hundreds. If I had any brothers or sisters, that's where they ended up in. I have no idea what was happening – I just ran. But I didn't get far – I landed in some kind of electrified net…"

Shrew took a small pause, allowing Quill, who had been listening intently, to cut in: "And you woke up here?"

"I wish…" Shrew said bitterly. "I instead woke up on a different kind of lab on Cinnabar Island. Much smaller, less sterile, less Pokémon experiments… but there still were some. And there was… him. This human called Charon. I don't know what his deal was and what he was trying to prove, but I was subject Arceus knows what in his little game. He…"

The look of disgust on Shrew's face told Quill more than Shrew himself could.

"Anyway, I don't know how long I was there. Time wasn't relevant anymore. All I know for certain that it was years. By that time, I was the only Pokémon Charon had left. Before that, I was waiting for some opportunity to escape or a miracle that would save me… or my mother to come pick me up… but I eventually stopped. I just wanted it to be over."

"But I guess even humans have limits on how messed up they're allowed to be. Charon was eventually discovered and fired. When they delivered me out of the lab, I was happier than I had ever been. Of course, that was before I found out what my destination was."

"Here?" Quill asked gently and Shrew nodded.

"I spent a few days in the med lab, and then, for the rest of my life I've been stuck in this floor for years. I've tried to keep track of time from calendars and I've tried to count the new arrivals, but once again, I just stopped caring."

"Shrew," Quill said, "I'm so-"

"Don't," Shrew said sadly and shook his head. "I don't know why I'm sitting here whining. We have to get going, and I've seen so many Pokémon suffer much worse fates than mine. Just think about the poor saps in the room we just ran out of. How are your legs?"

Quill was slightly taken aback by this sudden concern. "Oh, they're, um, fine. Much better. I'm not sure if I'm able to run yet, though."

"You'll be fine with me," Shrew said impatiently. "Come on!"

Slowly, the two Pokémon started making their way towards the door where the Rocket Grunts had come out of. Constantly glancing Quill, who still seemed to have trouble walking, Shrew also looked around the room for any surprises. Most of the aisles between the large cages, desks and computers were still shrouded in darkness. The cages _seemed_ empty, but a few desks and cages in the corner of the room had apparently exploded and were now just a big pile of splinters and metal.

When Quill looked like she couldn't take another step without wincing in pain, Shrew helped it a little, holding her paws tightly. As they headed towards the door, Shrew had time to think. Why had he saved just Quill? Was it because she, unlike every other Pokémon in the lab, had actually shared her food with Shrew despite her own plight?

 _Well, duh_. But then, maybe there were other Pokémon doing the same to each other in there? _Should I have tried harder_?

And why wasn't Quill enraged at the humans? A side-effect of the food they made her eat? Or did she really believe in all that? _But there are good humans around, like Krane._ Then again, all that time and he could have shut the project down, helped the Pokémon to escape. But he just watched.

 _And I've eaten that food for longer than her and I'm fine_ …

Shrew and Quill turned left, only a couple of yards from the door, the remains of the destroyed desks and cages to their right and an active computer to their left. As they passed the computer, however, Shrew heard the strangest noise from it: some sort of high-pitched, ethereal sound that made Shrew jerk his head in the computer's direction. What Shrew saw almost made him let go of Quill in shock.

A ghostly form of a Pokémon unlike Shrew had ever seen suddenly showed up on the monitor. It looked like a humongous centipede with beady, glowing red eyes. The creature had six claws, six legs and six wings and, most disturbing of all, seemed to notice Shrew's presence as it stared directly at him.

Before Shrew could process any of this, the strange Pokémon was gone. Quill, who wondered why Shrew had stopped, turned to look at the computer.

"What?" she asked.

Shrew didn't know what to say. Quill clearly hadn't heard the sound. It was possible that he had imagined it all, but…

 _Can't be_. Something was definitely wrong.

"Sandshrew?"

Quill sounded concerned. Shrew shook his head and turned to face her.

"Before we head to the surface, I need to find out something," Shrew said. "I mean we have a billion tons of rock on top of us, could be we'd have to get all the way to the summit to get out of here. You heard those guys talking – they were heading downstairs. Could be they have some… answers. For both of us. We could find out why you have such a hard time walking! And I think this computer could have something."

"I understand," Quill said, "you don't know anything about your past life or what they did to you. You deserve to find out."

" _We_ deserve to find out," Shrew corrected. "I've seen the humans use these computers a million times now. They're voice-activated, but probably only understand human language. I wish I was a Chatot right now…"

"I'm sorry," Quill said. "But it's not like you can open the files by just saying stuff like 'Computer, play the last log!'"

Quill had barely finished her sentence when the computer next to them started humming loudly. A few seconds later, a recording of a scientist appeared on the screen, listing out test results in a loud but nasal voice, occasionally pushing up his glasses:

" _This will be my last log update – most of the staff will be moved downstairs to work on the project they call 'Griseous Orb'. For now, we can say that the compound in the food has actively impaired the motor functions of all subjects. However, while experimenting with normal-type Pokémon, we found that the food causes severe neurological problems and disrupts cognitive functions. We've been forced to put a few of them to sleep. Other normal-types have shown increased aggression and previously apathetic or mild-tempered subjects have gone feral._ "

Shrew listened intently, while Quill seemed to be distracted by something. She tugged Shrew's arm, trying to get his attention, but the Sandshrew didn't even react to her presence.

" _As last time, the Sandshrew has shown no signs of change. Due to this, we have decided to use it as a control subject. The administrator is planning some big test for the creature next week. For now, we will not be administering the antidote for the other subjects. Fire-, electric- and psychic-types have shown significant weakening and have had their special abilities blocked, however, so we may need to tell the people upstairs to make more of the antidote, which we'll…_ "

Shrew cringed and stopped listening. _Maybe they're talking about some other Sandshrew?_ No, not with his luck. He hadn't seen other Sandshrew in the facility in… months? It was hard to tell around here.

"Shrew?" Quill said quietly – she had moved right next to the ground-type and was shivering.

Shrew ignored her for now. No wonder Quill didn't have fire sticking out of… wherever those flames came from. But if there was an antidote somewhere, upstairs apparently, then that meant…

"S-shrew…"

"What?"

"I think I saw-"

She was cut off when chunks of concrete, metal and wood started flying all over the room as something emerged from the pile of rubble next to them. It was a Dodrio, a seven feet tall, three-headed, wingless bird, each one of its beaks razor-sharp and almost as long as Shrew himself.

Shrew ignored all strategy as he grabbed Quill roughly and threw her away from the Dodrio. One of the heads turned to look at Quill's flight, while another screeched at Shrew, the noise boring into his skull. Shrew jumped up and scratched the Dodrio's midsection, causing it to screech again. Now all of its three heads focused on Shrew, all attempting to impale him with their beaks.

Shrew ran away from the Dodrio as fast as he could, but the Dodrio kept up in Shrew's pace effortlessly, forcing Shrew to quickly change direction and take cover underneath a table.

That was a mistake.

Noticing where Shrew had gone, Dodrio stomped on the table, its claws tearing the flimsy wooden construct apart like it was papier-mâché. For one brief second, Shrew could look into the Dodrio's eyes, noticing that all six of its pupils were apparently gone, its eyes milky white and empty.

Shrew tried to get away from the Dodrio, but one of the bird's heads managed to catch him by his tail. He was tossed in to air, then caught again by another head, the Dodrio's beak squeezing around Shrew's belly. Shrew tried to use his claws to desperately keep the bird's mouth open to avoid being snapped in half, using his tail to keep another head from impaling him.

The third of Dodrio's heads had focused its attention on Quill, who had come out of her hiding spot and was now staring at Dodrio and Shrew, paralyzed by fear.

"Quill!" Shrew yelled as he scratched, kicked and tail-whipped Dodrio everywhere he could. "Do… something!"

Quill fidgeted around in panic, making shrill, unintelligible sounds.

"Just…" Shrew grunted and dodged tried to wrap its tail around one of Dodrio's beaks. "…hit it, scratch it, bite it… anything! But hurry!"

And Quill did something. After blankly staring at the Dodrio for a second, she opened her mouth and while her back apparently burst into flame. Shrew instinctively curled into a ball to protect himself

A potent blast of flames enveloped one of Dodrio's heads entirely while the others attempted to desperately move away from the heat. In panic, the Dodrio stopped Shrew. After getting on his feet, Shrew ran away from the Dodrio and signaled Quill to run in the opposite direction.

Their plan worked. Dodrio's two still conscious heads couldn't decide which one to chase, seemingly paralyzing it entirely. Quill hesitated, but Shrew gave her a reassuring nod, causing Quill to hit Dodrio with another flamethrower.

This one knocked the giant bird off its feet. Without bothering to check if the Dodrio was still conscious, Shrew ran back to Quill, hurled her on his back and started making his way towards the door. Even carrying the malnourished Quill felt like dragging a sack of potatoes with him, and Shrew's limbs were already aching after the Dodrio battle. But even through the pain, Shrew ran out of the door and tried to find an elevator to the lower floors. There, he'd find answers. And then, he'd finally be free.

Frantic about getting out of the lab and back into the dark, crumbling corridor, Shrew ignored Quill's sudden shriek. Before he could do anything, something powerful struck him, and everything went dark.


	3. Call of the Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shrew and Quill find what Team Rocket is after and Shrew makes a plan to get out of the facility.

**Chapter Three:** _**Call of the Beast** _

" _Shrew… on… up…_ "

Shrew had already woken up, but found it incredibly hard to try to open his eyes.

Fires everywhere, screams, pain in every point in his body…

Must be heaven.

" _Shrew…_ Shrew!"

Shrew heard Quill's voice now. At first it sounded like it came from somewhere far away, but it kept on strengthening and becoming clearer.

"Please… you have to wake up…"

Shrew opened his eyes so quickly that Quill flinched. They were still in the same building, only one level below the previous lab. Still, it was hard to recognize places anymore with the lights off, the corridor illuminated by flames and filled with the remains of both drywall and humans. Bodies of scientists, security guards and apparently Team Rocket grunts were scattered all over the place.

"Thank Arceus," Quill sighed. "I thought…"

Quill was quickly cut off by a 'no-time-for-the-sap' look from Shrew.

"I'm not sure what happened. I saw some kind of shadows… oily shapes or something. Then everything went dark. I think we fell through that…"

Quill pointed at a huge hole in the ceiling.

"We were gone for hours," Quill continued anxiously. "Shrew, something _real_ bad is going on here…"

Shrew frowned at her.

"Something _even worse_ , I mean," Quill snapped. "There's something here that… I think these are the Rocket Grunts who came in before us…"

Among the bodies in bloodstained black uniforms was the body of a Raticate. Shrew gulped.

"Well… there's no turning back now," Shrew said and hauled himself up. "We'll try to find whatever those guys were after, then get to the elevator, if it still works. If not…"

Shrew paused and trailed off. "Let's get going!"

Shrew and Quill started to slowly walk towards the nearest door – or the only door they could see. Most of the hallway they were in had already collapsed, blocking off the other entrances. When they got to the door, Shrew hesitated for a second, then pushed it open.

A second later, he really wanted to turn back.

The room the Sandshrew and Cyndaquil were in was circular and bigger than any of the other places they'd been. There were more doors on the walls, with stone steps running all around the room, all descending towards _something_ at the bottom.

That _something_ was a humongous ball of light, and orbiting around it were hundreds of small, black letter-shaped Pokémon. All of them had one large, lidless eye in the middle, and as they slowly hovered around, they emitted a high-pitched noise that made Shrew shiver:

" _Uuuuunoooooown~_ "

Quill was clinging to Shrew, shaking as bad as him. But no matter what, they would have to cross, as the route to the cargo elevator was blocked by debris. Shrew took a deep breath, and together with Quill, started walking along the stone steps in the circular room, determined to stay as far away from the floating little black Pokémon as possible. But after a few seconds of walking, Quill abruptly stopped.

"What?" Shrew asked, finding himself whispering for some reason.

"N-nothing," Quill said, staring at the bottom of the room in awe. "It's just so… beautiful, don't you think?"

"I've never seen Pokémon like that before and I certainly wouldn't go calling them beautiful…"

"Not them," Quill whispered, "what they're floating around. What do you think it is?"

"Maybe we'll find out later," Shrew hissed sharply and grabbed Quill's paw, pulling her away as she took a step towards the center.

Reluctantly, Quill followed taking her eyes off whatever glowy thing it was that the little Pokémon seemed to be drawn to. Shrew had already fought enough feral Pokémon for one day.

_At least I hope the Dodrio was feral. It jumped out and screamed at me, though. What was I supposed to do?_

Shrew decided to think about it later… should there be a "later". He led Quill through the first door the duo came across and quickly shut the door behind him.

They were now in another darkened lab, only this time, they weren't alone. At the far end of the room, next to a steel door, were two people: a frail-looking, gray-haired male scientist and a woman with curly blonde hair in Team Rocket uniform. The scientist was nervously babbling something to the woman, who merely smiled cruelly. Hoping the two were too focused to notice anything, Shrew quickly dove under a table and pulled Quill with him.

"I… I can't g-give it you, p-please…" the scientist stuttered. "We were warned… please, you have no idea how dangerous that thing is! We should have never accepted it. But the administrator was-"

"I don't really care how you got it," the woman in Rocket uniform replied calmly, still smiling. "And the danger is just part of the fun. Let's just stop wasting time. I _know_ you're going to tell me where it is…"

Shrew stared at the scene – for a moment, he thought the woman was reaching for a weapon. Instead, she pointed what seemed to be a black tulip at the scientist, who looked confused for a second. Then, the woman pushed the flower into the scientist's chest. The scientist screamed and spasmed and eventually collapsed on the floor, with smoke pouring out from the spot he had been stabbed in.

"Electrified tulip," the woman said chirpily. "And I barely grazed you with it. Had I kept going, you would be dead. And I wouldn't even be bothered – there's bound to be others hiding here, pathetically clinging on to the hope of rescue, with the information I need. But that would take time, and I'm sort of on the clock here…"

The woman pulled the scientist up roughly, allowing him to lean on the wall and catch his breath. Finally, he spoke up, out of breath and with a raspy voice: "Behind that door… you need a code to get in… and another one to open the sealed cabinet it's in…"

A male Rocket Grunt stepped into the lab through another door. "Miss Domino," he said, addressing the blonde woman. "Trouble upstairs. Some of those strike team guys made it through our barricades. They'll probably be here soon."

"How many?" the woman asked.

"Six, but they'll probably send more soon."

"And here I thought this would be boring," Domino said and grinned. "The thing is behind that door. Once we have it, take it to Gideon and we'll pull out. You," she pushed the scientist against the steel door. "Open it."

As Shrew watched the scientist slowly make his way to the keypad next to the door, a realization struck him. Everything that happened here today was because of whatever they had behind that door.

"Quill," Shrew told his companion as quietly as possible.

Quill looked at Shrew, but was too frightened to get a word out. Shrew assumed she was listening anyway.

"We need to get whatever's in that room. I'm sorry to ask you this, but... can you cover me?"

"H-how?"

The scientist finished inserting the keycode and was now doing his best to pull the heavy steel door open. Shrew finished giving instructions as fast as possible:

"Alright, never mind, just be ready to help me out if something happens. I'm going to grab whatever they're after."

"But how will that help us get out of here?" Quill asked and grabbed Shrew by its paw.

"Please, Shrew, let's think this over for a moment-"

"If I have it, the humans will have to do as we tell them," Shrew said. "Not that they'll understand us, but... you get the idea. If we have it, they won't attack us and we can get through this place."

The door was opened, and a bright, golden light filled the room. Despite Quill's meek, quiet protests, Shrew climbed out from under the table and quickly sprinted towards the chamber.

Shrew ignored the sudden protests of Domino and the male grunt, leaped on the frightened scientist's shoulder for support and bounced itself into the chamber, landing on a table where he saw the source of the blinding light.

It was like a big, octagon-shaped gold-colored jewel that somehow floated on its own, or held up by some type of field. Deciding that wondering why an ugly-ass paperweight like that was so important was for later, Shrew grabbed the jewel, finding it light and easy to carry despite the thing being half Shrew's size. As he grabbed it, however, it stopped glowing and turned from golden to gray.

The female Rocket, Domino, shouted orders and pushed the scientist out of her way while the male grunt attempted to crack Shrew with his whip. Shrew jumped down on the floor, and while holding the jewel on his back with its front paw, made a quick dash back towards Quill, hoping she was ready to run.

But Domino managed to kick Shrew, causing him to lose his balance. From the corner of his eye, he saw Quill half-cowering behind the table and half-ready to jump into action, so without thinking further, he tossed the jewel to Quill, hoping she'd capture it.

What Quill did with it, Shrew didn't see, as he felt the air squeezed out of him as Domino managed to get him on his back and stomp on his belly, causing Shrew to wheeze and squeal loudly.

"Well, this is new," Domino mused as she pressed her foot down on Shrew, causing him to writhe in pain. "I knew the scientists and security guards would probably try some pathetic scheme to fight back, but the lab rats too? How _cute_!"

Domino looked around the room, but Quill was nowhere to be seen.

"I saw you grab the orb, little Cyndaquil," Domino called out. "I know you're still in this room somewhere and I know you can understand my speech – though whether you filthy vermin actually comprehend anything is another subject matter entirely. Bring the orb to us and we won't snap the Sandshrew's neck."

Domino raised her foot a little, allowing Shrew to breathe for a second, but before he could get off, she instead stepped on his neck, making the Sandshrew cough up blood.

"You know, I've killed many other little Pokémon today," Domino said as she looked down on Shrew, smiling sadistically. "But you're the first one I really _enjoyed_ hurting. You actually _tried_! You should consider yourself special. We're waiting!" Domino shouted, looking around the room.

Eventually, Quill came out from hiding hole and stepped into the middle of the room, holding the jewel between her paws. Domino nodded at the grunt.

"Grab it," she said.

Shrew tried to protest, tried to warn Quill, tell her to run away – Shrew himself was finished, but there was a chance Quill could still make a run for it. But Domino's foot was still pressing down on Shrew's neck and only barely audible wheezing came from his throat.

Then, as the Rocket tried to grab the jewel, Quill did something unexpected: took a few steps back.

She ignited the flames on her back, causing Shrew's eyes to widen.

She opened her mouth.

And s**t got f****ed.

Quill blasted the grunt with the most powerful flamethrower attack Shrew had ever seen. The grunt screamed, his clothes set alight, and dropped on the floor and started rolling, screaming his lungs out all the while.

Quill turned in Domino's direction and fired another stream of fire towards her, but Domino reacted in the nick of time and managed to leap out of the way, the flamethrower igniting the wooden bookshelf behind her instead.

Shrew tried to get up, ignoring the pain in his throat and stomach, but didn't need to struggle for long as Quill made a dash towards him, handed him the jewel and then pulled him away from the flames. Together, the two escaped the room as the flames spread all over, setting the equipment alight and causing the chemicals around them to explode.

Running to where the Rocket Grunt came from, they ended up in a corridor with scientists' bodies littered around them – and an elevator at the end of it.

"Can you run?" Quill asked, and Shrew just nodded.

 _It feels like a rusty nail is piercing through my guts every time I do so, but at least I_ can _do it._

Quill and Shrew dashed towards the elevator, and as they did so, Domino emerged from the room behind them, ignoring the cries of help from the grunt apparently still trapped by the fire, her hair singed and her clothes covered with ash. Seeing Shrew and Quill running, she raised a metal crossbow and fired, the bolt whizzing past Shrew's ear.

The elevator was just a few feet away.

Domino fired again, this time missing Shrew easily. Shrew heard Quill cry out, but as he looked, Quill still kept running briskly and Shrew didn't notice any damage on her, so he continued.

Reaching the elevator, Shrew dropped the jewel for a moment and jumped up to hit the call button – the elevator wasn't in the floor, though it audibly started to descend. Domino reloaded and raised her crossbow again, and with little room to dodge in the narrow, linear corridor, Shrew positioned himself in front of Quill and curled himself into a ball, using the only useful ability he had.

Shrew felt the metal bolt hit him, searing him as if it was made of solid fire. He heard a crack from his shell, but at least the bolt hadn't broken his skin. Nonetheless, Shrew uncurled and collapsed, the pain seizing him up.

"Shrew!" Quill squealed while Domino still kept strolling casually towards the two, reloading her crossbow already.

"Okay, Shrew," Quill said, trying her best to sound soothing. "What you're gonna see may shock you a bit, but you know I'm only doing this to protect you."

Quill took a deep breath, and as Domino raised her crossbow again, Quill's flames lit up brighter and bigger than ever, almost scorching Shrew with their heat, as Quill fired a scorching, all-consuming 大-shaped blast of orange fire towards Domino, whose reaction was to instantly drop her crossbow and start running the other way.

What happened to her remained unclear as he elevator doors behind the two Pokémon opened. Shrew practically crawled into the elevator as Quill grabbed the jewel, dashed in and jumped up to push the button to close the doors, then picked the highest button she could reach and the elevator began to slowly ascend.

Quill then tried to go to Shrew, who was sitting down and leaning on the wall of the elevator, holding his stomach, but Shrew just waved her off.

"Nothing's bleeding or broken and stuff isn't coming out, that's good enough for me," Shrew grunted, but as soon as he said that, wished he wasn't trying to be so macho.

"What I wanna know is, how on Arceus' blue Earth did you manage to use your fire attacks? That was a Fire Blast you just pulled off – and saved my worthless butt with!"

Quill looked nervous and looked at the floor as she spoke.

"It's complicated," she muttered, "and it's not like we have a spare couple of hours, here."

But as Quill said that, the elevator suddenly stopped. Quill and Shrew looked at the screen displaying the current floor: they were stuck between B6 and B5, having started from B9. Shrew wondered about just how big this complex was. The lights were still on, though.

"Actually, I think we have," Shrew observed.

**~o~O~o~**

"Scolipede, Steamroller!"

A door in the northwest corner of the research facility was only guarded by a lone Team Rocket Grunt smoking a joint and looking quite bored with this hostile takeover business, as if they took part in sieges more often than not.

His boredom was soon fixed when Rosa's Scolipede spun towards him and knocked him out cold, allowing Wes, Rosa, Hilbert and Amarillo to emerge from the bushes and sneak to the door. Hilbert's Samurott followed its owner closely like a dog while Amarillo had a Furret whose usefulness Wes seriously doubted. Wes more fascinated by the medic's quiet demeanor and the person not exchanging a word with the others.

Rosa rushed to the door and hooked her Pokétch to the electronic lock on it, using a small portable keyboard as she typed furiously with it.

"Best to leave her alone as she does her thing," Hilbert advised Wes as he inspected his own Pokétch. "She's good, doesn't compare to Jasmine though, but she's good. Can you believe that before her going into tech, her dream was to become an actress?"

"I can, but I can't bring myself to care," Wes mumbled as he scanned his surroundings, trying to see if any more Rockets waited in ambush. "She sure handles Pokémon well, though."

"Aren't you gonna be needing any?" Hilbert wondered.

Wes smiled smugly. "No, but I'm gonna use them anyway," he said and casually opened one of the Poké Balls on his waist without even looking.

Espeon, a purple, Psychic-type evolution of Eevee, appeared. Hilbert instantly crouched next to it and started petting it, squeeing over the Pokémon's adorableness. Wes was surprised how Espeon seemed to outright enjoy being scratched behind its ear.

Her ear? His ear? _Huh, I gotta check sometime. And probably try that scratching thing myself_.

"Anyway, why I won't be needing any is this baby," Wes said and showed off one of his two chromed revolvers that were ancient enough to look like props from a Spaghetti Western. "These fire a type of nonlethal dum-dum bullets meant to incapacitate with blunt force rather than kill... though they sometimes do the latter, too."

"Um, aren't those types of bullets illegal?" Hilbert asked with concern.

"Not in Orre," Wes said with a wink. "And besides, we're dealing with murdering psychotics here. If you want to go and call the Red Cross, or whatever their Pokémon equivalent is, feel free, but I'm here to do my job, collect some loot, and get out."

"Collect some _what_?" Hilbert asked.

"Anyway, what are you using besides your admittedly badass samurai otter?" Wes asked as he glanced at Hilbert's Samurott – Wes always had time to appreciate a Pokémon with an impalement device sticking out of its forehead. "You gonna consult them with pacifying dialogue?"

Hilbert rolled his eyes and demonstrated his Pokétch. "This is not just a fancy wristwatch," he said proudly. "Our tech division upgraded them for us – they fire an incapacitating electric stun attack and tranquilizer darts. _And_ they glow in he dark."

Wes raised his eyebrows.

"But you can turn that feature off if you need to," Hilbert added quickly. "And some of our team, like Rosa, Hilda and Buck, for example, have stunning energy weapons. I've heard a lot of things about the stuff you've been involved in, Wes, and I gotta say, things have evolved here in the civilized world."

"Hey, Orre may be a lawless, _Road Warrior_ \- esque wasteland," Wes snapped, "but we're plenty civilized. There was even a library before a band of, well, road warriors, blew it up. _You_ try building a civilization on a frickin' radioactive desert!"

"I'm kidding," Hilbert said as Wes about to approach him with his fists at the ready. "Sheesh, Wes, for such a wisecrack, you don't seem to like being in the receiving end that much."

"You're from Unova, you had mommy and daddy feeding you, clothing you and paying everything for you, right?" Wes asked, and decided not to let Hilbert cut in. "Well, me," Wes continued, calmly but with suppressed vitriol, "I had to get stuff done by my own. My mom had to raise me and my sister alone, I had to provide for us when mom's research wasn't going well enough."

"Wes," Hilbert said calmly, "I know my experiences can't really compare, but I never knew my dad either. Hmm, neither did Hilda now that I remember it. That's how we met, actually – our moms were both single parents trying to get along, so they helped each other out."

Wes pretended to be only half-listening as he inspected his weapons, but he was actually listening intently, especially when Hilbert mentioned Hilda.

"You guys been together long?" Wes asked casually.

"Nah," Hilbert said. "Our one-year anniversary's coming up soon. But we've been friends since childhood. I was perfectly happy with that, to be honest. Hilda was seeing this dou... this _guy_ called Cheren, and I was, well, I was happy hanging out with my friends. Hilda and Bianca – she's a member of the Beta team. But anyway, Cheren must have done something _really_ dickish, Hilda's never really clear on that, but one night she came to be when they had broken up-"

"Let me guess," Wes said contemptuously. "You played the 'nice, non-threatening friend who's there to supply a shoulder to cry on _and maybe more_ '. You are a sneaky bastard, aren't you?"

Hilbert got flustered. "No!" he snapped. "And we didn't get together that night – what, should I have just _not_ comforted her? But a few weeks after that, Hilda asked _me_ if I wanted to go out and then things led to other things and... well, you know, these things just happen. I was _happy_ being a friend, just so we get that out of the way!"

"If you say so," Wes said calmly, "but I've seen plenty of Those Guys in my life and – wait, what are we doing here?" Wes wondered and spread his arms, carelessly waiving his revolver around, making Hilbert flinch. "Playing therapist to each other? It sounds like one of us is going to die today!"

"Nobody's dying," Hilbert said – Wes noticed this confidence wasn't exactly authentic. "Hilda kicks ass, you'll see, everyone in this team have had _months_ of intensive training and if you're half as good as you seem to think you are, we should get this over with and be back home for breakfast-"

"Done!" Rosa yelled from the door.

"-I hope," Hilbert added quietly and gulped, losing some of the color on his face.

Wes, Hilbert and Amarillo gathered around Rosa, who was still typing frantically as she spoke.

"I managed to get one of their generators down," she explained, "but they have another one for lights, computers, medical equipment and the like, plus a backup generator for each one. But the one I shut down should have prevented all electric lock and Jasmine is working on the backup generator and should insert a bug in its systems to keep it offline."

"For how long?" Wes asked, his tone more serious now.

"An hour at max, maybe less if the Rockets force some maintenance workers to repair it. I'm not sure if that's enough time for us to get what we came for and evacuate, especially if Beta's helicopter has been destroyed, but at least we _have_ time."

"What's the plan?" Hilbert asked nervously as he wiped some sweat off his brow.

"Ms. White's team is in already, I noticed through the surveillance cameras," Rosa said quickly, "so we should sneak inside, flank the Rockets that the other team should be keeping down by now and put them all down neatly, and by that I mean _stunning them_!" Rosa added and glared at Wes.

"I swear, it's like you guys don't want me in your team," Wes said with a sly smile. "Racists."

"Well, if you have a better-"

"Yeah, I do actually," Wes said. "Seriously, that was a good idea, Rosa, I'm impressed, but did you come up with that or was it part of some official instruction booklet? If the other team is in already, we need to make the enemy crap their pants and make them think they're surrounded. And this is a fortified steel door – no way we can open this stealthily, and there's no way any one of us, well, except maybe the medic, can fit through the vent shafts. We have to blast in!"

"I actually agree," 'Amarillo' said softly.

"I think he has more practical experience with this than any of us," 'Amarillo' continued when Rosa eyed her curiously, "and if the other team has engaged the enemy, we don't have a lot of time to sneak around. What do you think, Hilbert?" she asked politely.

"I-I don't know," Hilbert stuttered, even more paler now. "Can we just get in? I guess... damn, I vote for Wes' plan!"

"Thanks," Wes said and patted Hilbert on the shoulder, "and don't worry, dude, your first skirmish is always the worst. Just stick to whatever it is you learned in training, keep your head down, keep your Pokémon in point and don't lose your cool. I'll be helping y'all if you need any."

"Do you have to be so damn condescending?" Rosa hissed. "We know what we're-"

"No, I don't have to, but I don't care," Wes said, "and I have to remind you that we're just sitting here pissing around instead of helping our teammates. Now, use your Scolipede to knock that door down, and let it go first, it's the most balanced combination of speed and bulk. Me and Espeon will go after it, then you, then the medic's Furret, the medic her... zirself and finally Samurott and Hilbert. Go!"

Rosa bit her lips in frustration, but nonetheless tapped her Scolipede. The bug Pokémon started spinning around with incredible speed and rammed the door, knocking it off its hinges. Wes nodded at his Espeon, and the duo stormed in, Wes with his revolver at the ready.

They entered the ground floor of the L-shaped building, noticing a lobby that looked like it was the center of an explosion, with chairs, desks, crates, cabinets and plants lying on the floor or in pieces, with huge chunks of the floor and walls missing, exposing pipes and power cables.

As Wes had suspected, the other team was in with full force, a Claydol floating around, being commanded by Buck, using its psychic powers to throw stuff around at some Team Rocket Grunts and their Pokémon, mainly Raticate, Koffing and Weezing. Wes took cover behind an info desk while his Espeon jumped into action. Rosa yelled orders at her Scolipede, who rammed another group of bewildered Rockets.

Wes noticed Jasmine was lying on the floor just a few feet from the info desk, a Magneton apparently belonging to her similarly unconscious a bit further from her. Wes saw a Raticate approaching her, so he whistled at his Espeon and pointed at the Raticate. Espeon fired a Psybeam, sending the Raticate flying away.

 _These chumps are nothing_.

Rosa had already charged forward to be there with her Scolipede, brandishing an energy weapon of some sort. Hilbert and Amarillo, however, had arrived into cover with Wes. Amarillo was giving orders to her Furret, which dashed across the room with incredible speed, fighting off multiple opponents at a time. The most impressive thing was that Amarillo had to merely give some vague hand signals that the Furret instantly understood, earning a quiet 'wow' from Wes.

Hilbert, however, was just hiding behind cover, his Samurott standing still, exposed and confused about what to do. Hilbert was as pale as a ghost, staring into nothingness while repeating something to himself:

"I have to help her... I have to help her... I have to help her... why can't I help her?"

Wes raised his head a bit to see what was going on – it didn't seem Hilda was in need of any help. What Wes assumed to be her Emboar was locked in a one-on-one duel with a Rocket's Muk while Hilda herself was barely doing anything with her energy weapon or Pokétch, but instead tripped a hapless Rocket Grunt with a foot sweep and then punched him in the face before lunging at her next opponent.

"She's doing just fine, y'know," Wes muttered at Hilbert as he ducked back into cover, then raised his head again, noticing Buck was fighting two Rocket Grunts simultaneously. "Espeon, give some cover over there, use Quick Attack!" he ordered and ducked again.

"No..." Hilbert whispered. "I have to be... I was so afraid of this... I can't be the only one not fighting..."

"Well, Jas over there could be doing better," Wes pointed out. "Hey, medic!" he yelled at Amarillo. "Soldiers down!"

Wes jerked his thumb in Jasmine's and Magneton's direction. Amarillo spotted her, nodded quietly at Wes and started crawling towards the unconscious gym leader. But as she did so, Hilbert readied her Pokétch, gave what Wes assumed to be a battle roar (not very smart to attract attention to yourself) and ran madly to the next cover, firing tranquilizer darts wildly, not hitting anything, as his Samurott followed.

Wes looked around the battlefield, noticing a Rocket Grunt taking an energy weapon from a dead security guard, making his way around Hilbert's cover to attack his blind spot.

"Hilbert, get down!" Wes yelled, confusing both Hilbert and the grunt, but Hilbert fortunately complied.

Wes fired his revolver at the Rocket, getting him out of commission immediately. Swearing to himself, Wes jumped out of cover, signaled Espeon to cover him as he dashed towards the dead security guard. Deciding that respect would come later, Wes carelessly lifted the guard's body up and used it as cover as he gave more orders to Espeon.

The strike team managed to overwhelm the Rockets eventually, and the battle ceased after a few minutes, though Hilbert took his time to get out of cover. The living Rockets had their wounds patched up and they were tied together on a neat bundle, bound and gagged, and placed behind the security desk, while the dead were placed in a row on one side of the room, covered with whatever they could find. The Rocket Grunt Wes had fired at had taken the round to the neck and had died quickly, but Wes found it hard to feel guilty. A few other dead Rockets were found along with dead security guards and scientists, but the team assumed they had died in a previous battle.

Apparently the security guards were very adept fighters, as there were only two of them but five dead Rockets overall, though.

Finally, the strike team and their Pokémon huddled around the information desk. Jasmine had been waken up, and she quietly assured everyone that she was doing just fine and had merely fainted in battle, though her Magneton was in much worse shape, but Jasmine said she had other Pokémon. Despite protests from Amarillo, Jasmine got back to work and started working her magic on the information desk's computer.

"Well, that was an odd approach," Hilda observed, looking at her team accusingly, especially giving Wes the evil eye. "I thought you were supposed to sneak in. Rosa?"

"We... changed the plan, ma'am," Rosa said.

"Oh, stop being all noble and crap!" Wes scoffed. "Hilda, it was my plan, and I changed it. And it was a good thing, too, you guys were too busy fighting to notice that Jas here was about to be eaten. You alright there, by the way?"

Not taking her eyes off the screen, Jasmine sighed with a mix of embarrassment and frustration. "I'm fine," she said faintly. "Honestly. I'm just sorry I wasn't more help..."

"Hey, come on!" Wes said with a smile. "I'm just sorry you missed a good battle – we trounced on those bastards, and didn't lose anyone! And you got half of the team in and did that thing with the backup generator. You're the reason this mission is still going!"

Jasmine didn't respond in any way, but made a strange, flustered sound as she typed.

"Wes' approach worked," Hilbert said. "Hilda, he saved my life! Without him, we'd be short two people already!"

"And he does fight well," Rosa admitted grudgingly. "Miss White, I think he should take my place as the number two in this team."

Wes chuckled. "No, I don't wanna be a number two of anything. Ahem, sorry, juvenile moment here, but seriously, I'm just a consultant here. You guys do your thing and I'll help. That was some brutal fighting there, by the way, Hilda. Your BF was right about you kicking ass, that's for sure!"

"What? Oh..." Hilda seemed unsure of what to reply, so she just flicked her hair coolly.

"Well, yeah, you know, that was just a combination of Tang Soo Do and good ol' fisticuffs."

"Isn't that an orange drink of some kind?" Wes wondered. "Anyway, you really did a number on those Rockets, though I wouldn't keep my eyes off the Pokémon as long as you did. You should also give it a little more direction, but hey, that's just my opinion."

Hilda suddenly looked a lot less pleased with Wes, but was interrupted by a female voice calling out for them from the stairway leading to the second floor:

" _Hey, guys! Over here! Hilda? Hilbert? Anybody?_ "

Hilda ordered Jasmine, Amarillo and Buck to stay with the info desk, while the others rushed to the stairway. To their surprise, there were two people huddled in the middle of the staircase, a female medic with blonde hair and a cheerful smile on her face as she saw the team approaching, and a male in combat gear who had the top of his head wrapped in a bandage, another bandage around his arm.

"Bianca, Cal!" Hilbert shouted excitedly, but Hilda punched him in the arm.

"Secret mission, professionals, you know," Hilda hissed at him, nodding at Wes.

"Oh, come on!" Hilbert groaned. "He's one of us now, he deserves to know _the whole truth_!"

Wes raised an eyebrow at Hilbert emphasizing the last three words, but Hilda ignored him for now.

"What happened?" she asked Bianca, the medic.

"Oh my gosh, I'm _sooo_ happy to see you guys again," Bianca replied quickly in a breathless, cheerful tone, as if there hasn't just been a massacre. "Sorry we couldn't help, Cal here was bleeding pretty badly-"

"I was not!" the wounded one, Cal, protested.

"-yeah, you were and _shush_ ," Bianca hissed at her patient before turning towards Hilda again. " _Anyway_ , we got in pretty smoothly and took out some of the Rockets upstairs, but there were more than we thought and then there were these strange _things_..." Bianca shuddered. "Like, you know, Pokémon, only nothing like I've ever seen, and I've seen some pretty weird stuff in my time – like a Trubbish. Like, who came up with those?"

The others responded with silence while Wes a lot less convinced about the strike team's professionalism.

"So, okay, we got separated from Nate and the others," Bianca prattled, causing Rosa to squeeze past Wes and listen more intently. "They went downstairs to pick up the Gris-"

" _Bianca_!" Hilda hissed. "We have an outsider here."

"Oh, so you do!" Bianca said cheerfully and waved at Wes. "Hi, I'm Bianca, the Beta team's medic! This is Cal, Beta's explosives guy! I wish we could tell you about the rest of the team, but we haven't heard from them."

"Yeah, name's Wes, hi," Wes said quickly and turned to look at Hilda. "You know, I know secrets have their place sometimes and I normally don't ask questions, but this is getting pretty serious, even for me. When I don't know everything I need to, I get a little anxious, and my aim suffers... I'd hate for any one of y'all to be in the way when that happens."

"He's joking," Hilbert told Hilda, "but he's trustworthy. Hilda, we're way in over our heads here, and I think he's the only one who can get the team out alive! Please?"

Hilda ground her teeth together in frustration, but all eyes were on her to make the decision, and it seems that she was the only one opposing it. But then he saw Hilbert looking at her like an injured Lillipup, and finally gave in with a defeated groan.

"Okay, but if command starts bitching about this, I'll say he had a gun to my head," she said.

"Feel free," Wes said casually, "they don't control me, and besides, if you keep too much secrets from me, that might end up being truer than you'd think."

Hilda wasn't impressed and just rolled her eyes at Wes.

"You tell him, then," she told Hilbert. "I'm going to check up on the others. Cal, you okay there?"

"For Arceus' sake, yes!" Cal groaned. "It doesn't even hurt that much anymore!"

Hilda left the staircase, while Rosa took a deep breath and sat down, not really paying attention to the others. Bianca went back to fixing Cal, who didn't look too happy being mothered like that.

"Okay, thing is," Hilbert explained to Wes, "and I'm sure you understand this is as a... whatever the hell you are. Like a rogue or something. Our main objective isn't actually rescuing the hostages and defeating Team Rocket – they're a part of it, but they're secondary to finding out this thing called the Griseous Orb."

Hilbert showed what it looked like by projecting a floating 3D image of it with his Pokétch. It was shaped like an octagon, with smooth features that made it look unlike anything Wes had ever seen, emitting a golden glow.

"What is it?" Wes asked as Hilbert, who turned the image off.

"I honestly don't know," Hilbert replied with a shrug. "None of us knows. All we know that it's really, really important and it's probably the reason Team Rocket decided to break in here."

"I have this theory," Cal grunted suddenly, still in obvious pain despite his protests, "that it's a weapon of some sort. Why else would they need all this camouflage?"

"We _know_ your theories," Rosa snapped over her shoulder. "He wasn't even supposed to be on this mission," Rosa told Wes. "He and Amarillo were brought as last-minute replacements."

"Did they now," Wes muttered as he glanced Cal stealthily, but decided to drop the issue for now.

"Also, one of the hostage has priority," Hilbert continued. "Dr. Kaminko, he's the administrator. He's the key to this place, and I mean literally – he's the only one with an all-access card which can get us past any obstacles Team Rocket throws our way if they get the generators back online. Anyway, that's all we know. Get Kaminko, get the Griseous Orb, get those two safely out and _then_ rescue everyone else. Do you have any questions?"

"A few, but I'll just get this one out of the way," Wes said with another glance in Cal's directions. "I know it's an action movie cliché and all but _why_ do you need an explosives guy - two of them, in fact - for this mission?"

"Standard procedure," Cal said grimly. "Blow up the place once we're done to hide any evidence."

Cal tapped at a large bag he was leaning against.

"We won't be needing more than this, Mother Nature will take care of the rest," Cal said. "Too bad the detonators are with Nate's boys."

"We'll find them!" Rosa said as she stood up with sudden confidence. "We have to! I don't know where your priorities are, but I wanna find him before anything else."

And then Rosa stomped away to join Hilda. Wes shook her head.

 _Squabbling is never good – not that it bothers me any. But this Griseous Orb sounds pretty boss. And if it really is a weapon, do_ I, _as a concerned citizen and taxpayer... well, as a concerned citizen, do I want it in the hands of people like this?_

_Clearly, the safest alternative is to sell that baby._

"What if we can't find the detonators?" Wes asked, and making sure Rosa wasn't listening, added: "You know, like if all the others are dead and they've been lost to enemy hands."

"We have a deadline here," Hilbert said, starting to sweat again as his voice faltered. "If... well, it's 10:20 PM now. We have until 5 AM to get this thing done or..."

Hilbert let out of a nervous, quaky sigh as he wiped some sweat off his face again.

"Damn it!" he moaned. "When we were planning this, Marshal said we didn't have to worry about the deadline, that it was just protocol, bureaucracy, whatever. He said we'd get this thing done hours before that! But I don't know..."

"Take it easy," We said calmly. "We have to get this done by 5 AM or...?"

Hilbert looked queasy and his voice cracked as he sputtered: "They'll bomb us to ashes."

Cal let out a cruel, slightly anguished laugh.

Meanwhile, back in the lobby, Hilda was pacing back and forth by herself, holding her Xtransceiver like her life depended on it. Only she and Hilbert had those, and they were for emergency communications with Marshal only. Hilda was eager to take charge, but now, Marshal's instructions would have been sorely needed. She wondered if Nate felt the same coming in.

Rosa approached her, causing Hilda to put the thought past her.

"Ma'am, can I speak to you?" she asked carefully.

Hilda sighed. "Hilda will do fine, okay?" she said bluntly. "As much as I hate to admit it, that guy Wes has a point – we don't have time for following protocol to the letter if we want to get this thing done."

"Oh... of course," Rosa said, still formally and somewhat intimidated of Hilda. "This isn't about Wes, though."

"We'll find Nate, you have my word on that," Hilda said flatly.

"Y-yes, um, Hilda, but it's not just that. I know you have your doubts about Wes, but I'm honestly more worried about those two newbies, especially Cal. They don't seem to be, well, team players, to be honest."

"We're not in a schoolyard, Rosa," Hilda snapped, "and I'm not the one you come to tattle about people. Learn to get along or don't, just do your job!"

Hilda tensed up when her Xtransceiver started ringing. She motioned Rosa to leave, and Rosa did so quickly. Hilda walked into the corner of the room, next to the row of bodies, and after making sure no one was around, she picked up. There was no video, just sound, and initially she heard just silence from the other line, forcing her to speak up:

"Hilda White here," she said nervously. "I got your message, but is this really-"

" _Yes_ ," said a rough, no-nonsense voice at the other line. Hilda recognized the voice easily, realizing it was Champion Lance. " _I wished to bypass Marshal and contact you in person. Are you alone?_ "

"Yes, sir."

" _Good. Can you give me a status update? And how is the freelancer working out?_ "

"We cleared the entrance and are ready to look for the administrator, sir," Hilda said proudly. "And, well, I know you said he was important-"

" _Speak freely, White._ "

"Okay... um, sir. He's honestly very good at what he does, and I hate to admit it, but I think he contributed largely to us getting in. But I don't feel comfortable around him and he doesn't seem to take this mission too seriously, plus he's... well, not to go all schoolyard, but he threatened me!"

" _You're right to be concerned, he's not the most reliable of people, but he's the best we could get on such short notice. If he really does get out of hand and becomes a threat to the well-being of you or your teammates, feel free to do what you please with him. But until then, keep him in the team, help him out and let him help you out. Tell him only what's necessary._ "

"Yes, sir!"

" _Good. To be honest, I don't feel comfortable putting you in_ _that much_ _danger, especially with such low numbers._ _But this comes from mission command_."

"...I thought you were the mission command, sir."

" _No, I'm a middleman here, just like Marshal. I'm only here because command's identity is top-secret, but I can say you this much: the committee._ "

"Oh, alright then. Um, sir."

" _Good. Now what I'm about to tell you is confidential, for your ears only. There's a reason why we put you in charge of the team, Hilda. The only other person who knows of this is Nate, I told the same to him._ "

"Sir?"

" _And remember: this comes from mission command. Should the public ever know of this,_ _there would be widespread panic. You're not from Kanto or Johto, so you can't know what it's like to be under Team Rocket's thumb. Furthermore, what goes on in that lab is vital for our safety, but the public doesn't understand that – they don't know what we're protecting them from. And not every scientist in there is reliable. Once you've rescued Kaminko..._ "

"Yes, sir?" Hilda said, breathing heavily.

" _Let's just say that once you've gotten Kaminko out and go for the other scientists, don't let yourself be distracted if Team Rocket is attacking them. Your priority is the Griseous Orb. If a scientist or a member of the staff gets in your way or finds out what goes on in there, you're authorized to use lethal force. Same with any further Rockets you see._ "

Hilda's mouth felt dry. "Are you saying-"

" _Leave no witnesses._ "

**~o~O~o~**

Shrew and Quill continued to be stuck in the elevator, Quill avoiding Shrew's gaze as she tried to read the map of the complex that hung next to the elevator's buttons.

"The floor we were in, B9, is the second-deepest in the place," Quill said. "And many of these floors don't have any description, it just says 'secret' on them. This elevator only goes up to B2... but according to this map, there's a tramway that connects that floor to the other side of the complex. And from there, we should be able to catch an elevator to the surface!"

"Good," Shrew grunted, trying not to move as his entire body still ached. "Of course, we need to get this elevator started first. Now are you ready to tell me what happened there? And I just remembered: the same thing happened with the Dodrio, too!"

Quill sighed sadly.

"I thought the food suppressed your special abilities," Shrew said. "How were you able to do that?"

"I..." Quill seemed to be on the verge of tears. "I may know more about this place than I let on, Shrew. If this is map is accurate, I've actually been in almost every floor..."

"How?" Shrew wondered.

"The human who runs this place is called Dr. Kaminko," Quill said. "They shipped me in here from a breeding center in Johto when I had just hatched. What I told about my mother is true, Kaminko told me that! He was my owner for so long, he treated me so much better than the other scientists treated the other Pokémon. Every other Pokémon in the batch that got sent with me was sent to the labs, but I got to be with him. It's just... I also saw what the other Pokémon went through first-hand. I could have done something, but I..."

"You couldn't have," Shrew said firmly as Quill was about to break down. "So the human needed a pet. He has a heart, it seems. A withered, evil heart, perhaps, but-"

"No!" Quill insisted. "I was a good Pokémon, and he treated me well in turn. Well, until recently. I-I don't what I did wrong, or why he changed like that, but he became colder, started spending more time in the labs and kept me locked in his room. And then, one day, he just said to me that I was going to be in some 'tests'..."

"What tests?" Shrew asked quickly. "Quill, I have to know!"

Quill covered her eyes with her paws. "That's just it! I don't remember! I want to help you, to help everyone else here, but I can't, because I'm weak, and-"

Shrew dragged himself up, limped over to the Cyndaquil and hugged her.

"You saved me back there, Quill," Shrew said. "Twice, in fact! You are stronger than any other Pokémon I've ever seen. And you can't blame yourself for what these humans have done."

"B-but I want to help..."

"We will help them," Shrew assured as he let go of Quill. "As soon as this elevator gets up and running again, we'll stop at another place where they keep Pokémon and get them out of their cages – well, maybe not the normal-types."

"But what if we can fix what they did to them?" Quill suggested. "Find an antidote of some kind, like what they talked about in the logs?"

"Maybe," Shrew said uncertainly – right now, he had to placate Quill. "We'll look for one, but we can't be sure we can find it or if it even exists. But every Pokémon that _doesn't_ try to kill us can still be helped. You know this place, so where do they keep them?"

"B3," Quill responded and turned to look at the map again. "That's the biggest place, stocked full of small cages. And there's another one at the other end of the complex in B2, at the end of the tramway."

"Good, we don't have to even make that big of a detour," Shrew said confidently. "See, I have a plan. It's not great, and I'm not even that sure about it myself, but it works, well... _most_ of us will see daylight again!"

"But before that, you should rest," Quill told Shrew.

Shrew groaned, reminded of the pain again, and collapsed on the elevator's floor again, but still smiled at the Cyndaquil.

"It's just my organs," Shrew grunted. "And I rested enough back when I was unconscious."

Quill actually smiled back, which was all too rare. "You don't have to pretend," she said warmly. "Take another nap. I'll see if I can get this thing to work... meaning I'll press random buttons and hope one of them does something."

Shrew smiled gratefully and positioned himself better, keeping a tight grip on the jewel he had stolen – as long as the two had it, they were a target, but the Rockets couldn't use too much force as they couldn't risk breaking or losing the thing – not that it felt very breakable.

Shrew closed his eyes and tried to rest.

But he was prevented from doing so by a harsh voice whispering to him:

" _She's lying, Shrew! She's with the administrator of this place! What if he planted her there to manipulate you or some other poor sap who got out? You can't trust her!_ "

Shrew opened his eyes and looked around him, but Quill was looking at the map and apparently hadn't noticed the whispers. Shrew wondered if he was just in dire need of rest, and closed his eyes again.

" _She'll try to steal the jewel for herself, Shrew! You heard it from the scientist: the thing is dangerous, most likely a weapon the humans will try to use against you. Remember what they did to you!_ "

Shrew opened his eyes again and stared at the jewel. He could have sworn the whispers were coming from _it_.

 _It couldn't be... and that was crap, anyway. I saved Quill from that fire and she saved me_ with _fire. We're even now and we trust each other. End of story_.

" _Or maybe she's not working for the humans. Maybe she's not even a Pokémon at all. She could be one of those creatures who you saw or working for them. You know there's only one thing you_ can _do._ "

Shrew blocked his ears, but that did nothing to stop the whispering.

" _Get rid of her_!"


	4. I Fear No Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wes and the task force split up in search of the Griseous Orb while Shrew and Quill team up with a pair of surviving Pokémon.

**Chapter Four: _I_ _Fear No Evil_**

"Clear!"

Hilda and Hilbert inspected another room in the second floor of the L-shaped Navel Rock Research Facility. With 95% of the facility underground, the upper sections merely contained offices, a computer room and a medical facility – the team was currently inspecting the offices, but their job was made hard due to the electronic locks getting back to action as Team Rocket got the generators online.

Back in the first floor, amidst dead bodies and just unconscious ones, Rosa, Amarillo, Jasmine, Bianca and Cal, who kept on insisting that he was fine, were keeping the elevators in check, Jasmine's hacking skills making sure Team Rocket couldn't send any reinforcements upstairs.

Back upstairs, Wes and Buck did their part in trying to pry the doors of another office open and inspect the room – it was slow work, though, and their only results seemed to be dead scientists, security guards and other staff, with the odd dead Rocket Grunt.

As Buck finally managed to overload the electronic lock with his Pokétch, Wes used a crowbar to pry the door of another office open. Wes and Buck took cover on both sides of the door, Buck peeking through with his energy blaster extended, giving a signal for Wes to follow. This one was empty, though clearly Team Rocket had been there, as the desk and chairs had been shattered and the bookshelves had been ransacked, the floor littered with literature. Even trash cans had been turned upside down in search of something.

"Clear!" Buck announced sharply.

Wes responded with a bored eye roll. "Yes, _clearly_ ," he said. "Good job, B!"

"Thanks," Buck said cheerfully. "Wonder what they were expecting to find... surely they'd realize that the Griseous Orb is kept in the labs."

"Yeah, but this is Team Rocket we're talking about here," Wes grunted as he looked around for valuables. "I admit this is my first time dealing with them, but everything I've heard and that battle we had before points to them replacing brains with Zerg Rushing."

"The what?"

"Ah, forget it," Wes sighed, to himself more than Buck. "Some of these must be rare books, though. Wish I had time to inspect the more thoroughly, but duty calls. Say, Buck – what do you think of Hilda?"

"I have a girlfriend back in Sinnoh, you know," Buck protested quickly. "And the lieutenant is with Hilbert! I don't what you're, I mean, I have never, that is-"

"I mean as a team leader," Wes said, smiling slyly. "Man, if it's easy to trip you..."

Buck cleared his throat and smiled apologetically. "Er, sorry," he flustered. "Well, this is our first _real_ deal with her – and my first real assignment _ever_. But she's been training us for a long time now. I've learned moves that I never thought possible thanks to her, and while she doesn't use Pokémon much, she's a brilliant battler too."

"So you agree with her decisions then?" Wes asked. "And would follow them even if you disagreed, even if they were potentially a danger to you?"

Buck nodded solemnly. "Of course," he said. "May the Gods punish me if I should ever disobey her."

Wes nodded. "Just wanted to know," he muttered. "Oh, and good," he added. "I don't want any more childish arguing. I mean, that's what I would say if I was in Hilda's place. But you seem to know the score. So tell me then, and don't give me any 'official' crap, do you think we're doing well so far? It seems we've run into a ton of dead civilians already – I've counted like eight or nine by now and I'm sure team H&H over there will make that number even bigger. Should we try to negotiate with 'em to see if the other hostages down below are in danger?"

"Nah, we took 'em by surprise," Buck grinned. "They're scared now and know they're the underdog here. Even if we lost Nate's team, and Arceus bless their souls if that did happen, they'll think we have unlimited reserves and will hold on to their hostages and not get rid of them. Besides, there's plenty of security guards down there, too."

"And do you think it's smart for us to focus on finding the head honcho?" Wes inquired. "I mean, I agree finding this Christmas Orb thing is important, but the administrator's just one guy, and we only need his access codes. You have plenty of brainiacs here and you don't seem to shabby with tech yourself, can't we just try to hack into their system, or try to find the codes from Kaminko's files or something?"

Buck frowned, contemplating Wes' words. "Huh," he said. "That's not all that bad. But if you're gonna suggest that to Lt. White, I'm gonna get as far away as possible," he added with a smirk. "You've seen how she can be."

"She has to be," Wes said quietly. "She's a leader – well, okay, even a leader, no, _especially_ a leader needs to loosen up every once in a while. Next room?"

Buck nodded.

As Wes and Buck went back to the L-shaped corridor, they saw Hilbert and Hilda leaving a big office at the end of the hall, approaching them briskly.

"We checked the administrator's office," Hilda said firmly. "No one there, and it looks like all the important files were taken – the computer was smashed, but the door was firmly locked and nothing else was broken or ransacked like the other rooms. Seems like Kaminko's hiding somewhere."

"Just the medical wing left now," Hilbert said.

At the very opposite end of the second floor were double doors marked with a red cross, but the doors were sealed up tight, as Hilbert had to work a lot on the electric lock. Hilda and Buck readied their weapons and kept them pointed towards the doors, while Wes was calmly leaning on the wall next to them, inspecting his revolvers.

However, as he leaned and pressed his head against the wall, he heard something through it – whispering, people moving around.

"Hold up," Wes told Hilbert quietly and pressed his ear against the wall – he could definitely hear soft talking now. "There are people there," Wes told Hilda, then knocked on the door firmly, causing a sharp silence inside. "Hello! It's okay, we've come to help. We took care of Team Rocket in this floor! You all right in there?"

No answer. Hilda shook her head.

"Wes, they're frightened and they don't know if you're telling the truth," she said. "And for all we know, there could be Rocket Grunts waiting in ambush. If you're civilians, open up! We've been sent by the Elite Four, we're here to rescue you! Wes, you stupid-"

"Hey, you should thank me," Wes snapped. "Being as edgy as you are right now, you'd have probably blasted some civilian before they had a chance to explain themselves."

Wes took a look around, noticing a surveillance camera pointing directly at the group.

"If you have access to security monitors, you can see we're not Rockets!" Wes said loudly, hoping someone inside would reply.

A moment of silence. For a while, still nothing, though Wes could clearly hear panicked whispering – there were definitely more than five people inside. Finally, a quivering voice replied:

"W-we can see you! But we're not opening!"

"This is important!" Wes yelled. "Look, how about we all lower our weapons and don't get any Pokémon out. Will you open then?"

"Wes..." Hilda said threateningly. "I'm not lowering mine."

"Trust me on this!" Wes pleaded. "I'm not a moron and this isn't the first time I've had to deal with this crap. Cipher had once attacked a lab in Orre and survivors had shut themselves in. Do you really think Team Rocket would do that, or leave that many people up here when the fight's downstairs? We took them all out in the lobby, and even if not, they can't be in fighting shape if they locked themselves in. And I have a plan, anyway. Got it?"

Hilda didn't lower her weapon, but Buck did while Hilbert stepped away from the electronic lock. The two looked at Hilda for guidance, and after sighing wearily, she put her gun away. Wes put his revolvers back in his holster.

"You can see us now!" Wes said, holding his hands in the air. "Unarmed. Can we come in, please?"

"Y-yes," the voice inside replied. "But no funny stuff! Just wait a minute!"

A light on the electronic lock turned green while a heavy scraping sound was heard, the civilians having most likely barricaded the door. Then, Wes saw one of the double doors opening ever so slightly.

Seeing his opening, Wes barged in and quickly pulled out both of his revolvers, holding one in each hand as he stepped into the room. After a second of confused hesitation, Hilda, Hilbert and Buck followed.

But there was no need, as they were met with frightened looks from the people inside. There was a security guard and a Machoke, along with a doctor, two nurses, several scientists and a man and a woman Wes believed to be from the cafeteria staff. Wes lowered his guns and holstered them again, the others doing the same.

Hilda seemed to have remembered she was in command, as she pushed Wes out of the way and addressed the room:

"Okay, it's all clear downstairs," she said, hands on her hips and her gaze scanning the room. "But I'm afraid you can't go yet. There may still be Team Rocket outside, and with the currents being the way they are, we can't get you to safety yet. It was smart barricading this room – we're going into the lower floors now, but we'll be sending someone to get you once we've done everything else. I suggest you lock this place up again soon. Before we leave: has anyone seen the administrator, Dr. Kaminko?"

"Um, yes, excuse me!"

A skinny male scientist with brown, mostly graying hair squeezed past the other civilians – the shirt underneath his lab coat was buttoned wrong and his glasses were crooked.

"Professor Krane," the scientist introduced himself. "I'm the head of the Pokémon biology department."

"Hey, I know you!" Wes said suddenly. "Weren't you working at Orre's Pokémon HQ – you were supposed to replace the resident egghead, ol' Professor Westwood once he retired?"

"Uh, yes," Krane said, "but I took this job instead because, well, it was Orre. Anyways, I hear one of the assistants will be getting the job instead, someone by the name of... I think her name was Professor Marston or something..."

"Oh." Wes was slightly taken aback by this info.

"When did you last see Kaminko?" Hilda asked bluntly, her already limited patience growing thin.

"Ah, of course," Krane said nervously and adjusted his glasses. "Well, funny thing, really. See, the administrator is famous in the scientific world, he laid the foundation to our entire field of Pokémon research-"

"The point, professor," Hilda said, using her very effective, threatening tone.

Krane gulped. "Oh, I'm so sorry, it's just that this whole day has, well... I mean, yes, he rarely leaves his room, that Kaminko. He even has his lunch brought to him. But today I bumped into him at the information desk, exchanged some kind words. I was coming here to see the doctor, um, nothing serious, one of the Pokémon here kind of got out of hand, a small bite, just needed to get a band-aid and a possible tetanus shot, really."

Hilda motioned at the nervously babbling scientist to keep talking.

"Yes, quite," Krane said. "That was actually around ten, maybe fifteen minutes before the attack. Kaminko was heading to the elevator leading to the basement, saying he was going to B3. Not that it helps a lot, there are two B3's here, you see..."

"Professor!" a female scientist admonished. "I don't think these people need to-"

"Um, yes, t-thank you, Burnet," Krane lisped, making Wes wonder how the guy got to be the head of a department in the first place, "but I think we can forget about all those clauses and protocol due to this emergency, hmm?"

"You can, but I'd like to keep my job," Burnet replied.

Krane gave a token nod and a fake smile her way, then motioned the strike team members to follow him to a large map posted on the medical wing's wall.

With one glimpse, Wes saw the layout of the facility. The actual building they were in now was actually five stories instead of two, three of them being underground. The third basement floor was apparently connected to a hangar which contained submarines for transportation. The second basement floor was connected to another, larger facility through a tramway that led inside the mountain behind the complex. This complex continued far below the ground, all the way down to level B9.

"We'll check out both B3's then," Hilda sighed. "We need Kaminko's access card."

"Oh, um, yes, about that," Krane stuttered. "I mean, if you don't mind, I think that, well-"

"The point!" Wes, Hilda, Hilbert and Buck all shouted at the same time, causing the professor to flinch.

"I have an all-access card," Krane said quietly, showing his pass. "I'm, well, I know this is not the time to boast, but I'm the second most senior staff member in the chain of command, below only Kaminko. This grants access to every room except Kaminko's own office."

"Excellent!" Hilbert said. "Now we can go find the Griseous Orb first!"

"Nope," Hilda pointed out, flicking Hilbert playfully on the forehead. "You forgot the mission plan already? We still need to get to the administrator first, access-card or not. But that _will_ be a great help, still. Give it to me, Krane."

"Um, yes, about that," Krane stuttered and backed away from Hilda involuntarily. "I would definitely give it to you if that actually helped, but, well, see, the doors in this place also have biometric sensors. In tandem with the card, you also need the owner's thumbprint. So, I have to join you, it seems."

The strike team groaned loudly.

"Now, I know I may not look like much," Krane said defensively, "well, I'm _not_ much, I'm aware, but you still need me. If your target really is the Griseous Orb, and I know perfectly well why, you need a scientist to retrieve it. Furthermore, I have a feeling our well, test subjects may have escaped captivity, and I can try to talk to them. Plus it helps if you have someone who knows the facility."

"No offense, professor..." Hilda said, took a brief pause, and then continued: "Actually, screw that: you're a bookworm who can barely stand up straight and look us in the eye when you talk to us, and you're not even armed, and we can't spare any firepower. Do you even have any Pokémon?"

"Well, no, I just study them as a profession," Krane admitted, "but I do have this!"

Krane pulled an odd-looking pistol with a wide barrel and a slide-lock mechanism from his pocket, brandishing it with carelessness that caused the strike team members to back away from him.

"It fires tranquilizer rounds," Krane said. "We, um, have had to deal with Pokémon outbreaks from time to time and, well... um, I guess that would explain it... if I can't talk to those poor Pokémon, I at least have to refrain from..."

"Yeah, I don't want to blow their brains out, either," Wes said. "But we may not have a choice. I mean, damn, not just Team Rocket, but we have to deal with a horde of pissed-off Pokémon lab rats? So there's going to be fire, electricity, razor leaves and kisses that make you fall asleep for some reason flying around?"

"Uh... no," Krane admitted quietly as he took his glasses off and turned away from the strike team. "We... well, we ensured Pokémon with those kind of special attacks couldn't use them. Most of them have been a substance, that – I mean, I was against it, personally! We're declawing them, it's what we're doing! But the orders came from the administrator, and-"

"Yes, yes, we get it," Hilda said. "You can come, then, but keep that tranq gun at the ready. Hate to say it, but I think we might be better off thanks to you feeding that stuff to them."

"Agreed," Wes nodded, "and with any luck, the Pokémon and the Rockets will kill each other before we get there!"

Everyone in the room stared at Wes.

"What?" he wondered. "Haven't you heard of the reassuring power of laughter? I mean, just because about a dozen of your colleagues just got – I mean, just because we're all facing good chances of certain – I mean... well, you know what I mean."

"You, barricade this room!" Hilda told the civilians. "Krane, everyone, follow me downstairs, time for a short briefing."

"Actually, Hilda, could we talk for a moment?" Wes said. "Like, alone."

Hilda seemed dissatisfied, but nonetheless signaled Hilbert, Buck and Krane to go. The civilians started to move stuff around to form another barricade, while others started chatting in a much lighter manner, some male scientists chatting akwardly, relaxing and reading the paper:

"It's so hard to get a date these days," the scientist whined. "Like, yesterday, I held the elevator door open for that hottie in the teleportation department, and she still wouldn't even go out with me!"

"Dude, friendzoned, brah," another scientist replied. "I feel ya there, brah. I placed a personal ad in the company newsletter last week and still no replies. Look: ' _Wanted: single female w/ 90-60-60 body wanted for permanent, non-monogamous relationship. Pref. non-smoker. Send urine samples to Dr. Wilkins.'_ "

"Tender, brah. I have no idea why you haven't gotten any yet. Total misandry, dude!"

"What is it?" Hilda asked Wes impatiently.

"Nothing much, I can see you're busy," Wes said with a flighty shrug. "Just saying, since I'm basically extra here, maybe I could go and escort these people out. Like, we have the sub, I can get rid of any Rockets outside, tell the sub to come up, get these people in and have Marshal and Dock take them to the nearest island."

Wes was about to turn around and announce his plan to the civilians, but Hilda grabbed him by the arm.

"Hold on!" she said loudly. "You... I mean, look, isn't it a little too dangerous for you to do alone? And..." Hilda took a deep breath and looked as she was about to do something absolutely abhorrent. "... you're gonna be useful to us."

"Say what?" Wes asked.

"I said you're gonna be... you heard me perfectly, didn't you?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just wanted to hear it again. Now, what was it again?"

"Knock if off," Hilda sighed. "You're the most experienced one here and I don't think we'll get this done without you, even with Professor Schizoid helping us."

"Hilda, not cool," Wes admonished. "And thank you for that. Since you said it so nicely – you should do it more often, suits you nicely – all right, I'll help you out."

"Yeah, whatever, get down there already."

"Yes, ma'am!" Wes said and offered a half-assed salute before leaving.

Hilda was about to leave too, but looked at the civilians, who were also distracted by other things or were preparing to seal themselves in again. Seeing them made Hilda feel slightly nauseous, she felt like saying something, maybe calling Wes back again, reorganizing the whole thing, asking Marshal for help...

...no, screw that! She would do it herself – she was made the leader of Team Alpha. It was her responsibility. And orders had to be obeyed – at any cost.

"Take care, everyone," Hilda found herself saying to the civilians as she turned around. "We'll be back before you know it."

Back downstairs, the group organized near the elevators. There were two, both leading to places that were otherwise inaccessible. Trying to ignore the various, mostly covered dead bodies as well as the still-unconscious Rocket Grunts tied up in another corner, all injected with a serum by Bianca, making sure they'd stay out of commission for a few hours.

Making sure she commanded authority, Hilda stepped in the middle of the group, the others gathered around her, instantly stopping their chatter as Hilda cleared her throat.

"All right, everyone, good work getting in," she said, hands on her hips again and her tone dead serious. "Now we know where to go and we have someone to help us find our way around. Now is time to actually head for our objectives: Dr. Kaminko and the Griseous Orb. Our... our secondary objective is to rescue other hostages. I believe Jasmine has made some progress with that. Jasmine?"

Jasmine took a while to start speaking, but mercifully enough, did so audibly enough, though people had to listen even more intently to make anything out due to her wispy way of speaking.

"Um, okay, according to their files," Jasmine said with a slight blush, "this facility employs 67 full-time staff members and 18 additional, part-time helpers, most of whom were not at work during the, um, incident. They're divided into three levels of clearance. Level three workers are mostly security guards, cafeteria employees, maintenance workers and lab assistants. Level two are scientists and more important staff members, like the medical employees and Kaminko's secretary. And level one are the top researchers-"

"Like me!" Krane spoke out, but was shushed by the others immediately. Jasmine, however, didn't seem to have much to add on that.

"We've found twelve dead so far," Hilbert said, his voice quivering again, "four of them guards and six of them scientists. Take out the ones we found from the medical wing, and we still have at least forty potential hostages down there."

"I know this may sound hard," Hilda said firmly, "but it looks like we might as well start using lethal force against Team Rocket."

"But try to keep the Pokémon alive!" Krane said quickly. "Please, you have nonlethal means of defending yourself too, right?"

"Yes, yes," Hilda said. "Kaminko is most likely on the level B3, where the hangars and teleportation chambers are, along with accommodations to the level-one researchers, who stay here full-time. What was the situation down there, Jasmine?"

Jasmine initially looked annoyed that she had to talk again, but still managed to bravely get her piece out:

"Based on security footage, the Team Rocket concentration is biggest over there," she said. "I-I... seems like they've taken over the entire floor, but I didn't see any dead bodies or much signs of violence. The hangar in particular is heavily guarded, seems like there are around thirteen grunts in that floor alone."

" _Thirteen?_ " Wes said out loud and whistled appreciatively. "Looks like we're going there in full force, then."

"No," Hilda said simply, ignoring Wes' look. "We're just there to find Kaminko, and we need to get there quietly. There are ten of us, and I'm splitting us to two teams. I'll take Hilbert, Buck and Amarillo down there."

Wes raised his hand. "Pardon me, ma'am," he said cheekily, "but I wouldn't stretch our numbers so thin, and wouldn't it be more logical to have two groups of five?"

Hilda didn't look at Wes directly when she snapped: "Wes, if I wanted your opinion... well, I don't want it, not on this. It's final!"

"Where does the other group go?" asked Rosa, who was trying to prevent another snarkfest between Wes and Hilda.

Jasmine actually replied without having to be told: "The, um, trams in B2, we'll take them and check out the other B3 inside the mountain. S-should Kaminko not be there, we'll go straight to the lowest level, where the G-griseous Orb is held... um, right?"

"To my knowledge, yes," Krane said. "They could have moved it, though, I mean, I'm not in the know of _all_ the details of that particular project-"

"We're sticking with that plan," Hilda said. "Now, I've asked Rosa about this and she seems cool with it, so... Wes, you'll be leading Rosa, Bianca, Cal, Jasmine and Professor Krane there. You'll need both techies there, I'm sure."

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Krane lamented. "Even with my access cards, Team Rocket may have accessed the base's defense systems, which we may have to hack through."

"How many Rockets are we talking about here?" Cal asked. "I'm pretty sure I got one of the bastards, so I guess we have at least _that_ working out for us."

"Umm, about that," Jasmine said meekly. "I saw dead Rockets on the monitors, but there's still a huge amount. About forty are still left overall, I think."

"That's as many as during the Silph heist!" Bianca said. "Oh, well, one person and a team of Pokémon was able to take them out back then, so we should do fine! Let's get going – I'll be with my band-aids in case anyone gets hurt!"

"Nice going, by the way, Jas!" Wes told Jasmine. "I always want to know what I'm up against! I can see why you're in this team!"

Hilda and Rosa exchanged annoyed looks, but Jasmine, to their surprise, blushed and held back her reply. Hilda then nodded at Hilbert, who passed Wes his Xtransceiver. Wes raised his eyebrows in appreciation – as soon as he saw the multiple buttons on it, he had the urge to start trying out its features.

"Use this so we can keep in contact," Hilda said to Wes with slight suspicion. "You know, since you want to be in command and all. Call us if you find the Griseous Orb – or the rest of the Beta team – while we'll call you if we find Kaminko."

Wes smiled. "Count on it, LT!"

"Once you've located the Griseous Orb, set the charges," Hilda told Cal.

"But after you've gotten any hostages out to safety," Hilbert added, then looked curiously at Hilda. "Right?"

"Sorry, but no," Hilda said tensely. "Set the charges, _then_ worry about the hostages, and don't stay too long to look for stragglers. We need to get this thing done before morning. Don't worry, I bought us a little extra time with Lance."

"You talked to Lance?" Rosa asked. "Wow, he really does put faith in you, does he?"

Hilda didn't answer. "Off we go, then." She pressed the call button next to the elevator she was about to go to, while Wes pushed the button on his.

Wes glanced at Hilda, smiling cockily. "Good luck out there, White. You too, 'Bert," he told Hilbert. "You've found a killer girl there. Don't let her down. Take care of each other."

"Thanks," Hilda said, frowning in confusion. "Uh, you too."

The elevators both opened at the same time with a ' _ping_ ' that sounded almost deafening in the empty lobby. Taking deep breaths, both teams stepped inside their elevators.

**~o~O~o~**

In the third-floor basement of the mountainside facility, another elevator opened. Cyndaquil stepped out first, making sure the coast was clear, Sandshrew limping after her, still a little sore but ready to fight if necessary. Shrew held the stolen jewel under his arms. It was still dull gray despite its earlier glow.

The third-floor basement corridor was dark and the place seemed virtually deserted. There was total silence, the sound of the elevator closing feeling like it alerted every Rocket Grunt in the complex.

"We have to find the Pokémon cages soon!" Quill whispered. "They know we have that thing."

The flames still alight on the Cyndaquil's back the only source of light they had – Shrew could see in the dark, but his ability had weakened during the time spent in the complex, especially as it very seldom got dark enough for him to practice. Even at night, the Pokémon found it hard to sleep due to the fluorescent lights that were constantly kept on, night or day.

"Not sure if we have to worry too much," Shrew muttered, sniffing around but not catching any Pokémon scents close by. "You really expect humans to tell us apart from other Sandshrew or Cyndaquil? And that thing is not exactly hard to hide... though I wish I could find like a bag or something for it."

"Well, I still think-"

"But you don't know!" Shrew snapped at her. "You're thinking and guessing but none of that will get us anywhere! You know this place, damn it, so think of something better!"

Quill stared at Shrew, who was taken aback by his sudden outburst. Ashamed, Shrew had to look away.

"I-I don't know what..." he stuttered. "Quill, I was hurt, I couldn't really get much rest, I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I said... not sure what came to me."

"Let's just find the cages," Quill said meekly. "I'll go a little ahead, you can follow my light and you're not fit to fight-"

"I'm always fit to fight," Shrew said, "especially if another normal-type tries to chow on us. Don't worry!"

"Still, I'll go ahead. I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen to this place. I know we need to get out of here ourselves, but I don't feel right leaving the others behind. I hope you understand."

"Yeah, of course I do," Shrew said, barely listening. "I told you I have a plan, stop worrying!"

Quill looked concerned, but nodded anyway and started to slowly walk further down the hall, looking at the doors on the sides, reading the signs next to them. Shrew walked behind her, not focusing on anything.

_What made me say that? I never thought about that before. But that had to come from somewhere..._

Shrew glanced at the harmless-looking jewel he was carrying.

 _No. It can't be this_...

"Shrew," Quill whispered, "there's an opening."

"One of the doors is open?" Shrew asked, looking up.

"Um... no. More like there's an opening..."

Quill pointed at an entrance to a darkened lab where some fluorescent lights were still on. Whatever was left at the door was in pieces by the entrance, wooden splinters and shards of glass spread everywhere.

"Well that's discouraging," Shrew muttered.

But with no other alternatives in sight, Shrew and Quill sneaked in. Making sure it was empty, the duo walked in. The room was filled with computers and various lab apparatus, but no Pokémon cages in sight. A few chairs were knocked over and there were foot- and pawprints all over the floor, but whoever came into the room – or out of it – wasn't interested in staying, as the room was mostly undamaged. There were no big cupboards to hide in and Shrew and Quill were short enough to notice that there weren't any people or Pokémon hiding under the tables either.

The entrance was exactly in the middle of the room, which stretched far to both left and right, prompting Shrew and Quill to wordlessly split up to cover more ground, Shrew still holding on to the jewel, though dreaded the possibilities of it influencing his behavior more.

After wandering to the left side of the room, far from Quill, Shrew noticed that one of the computers was open. Not wanting to leave the jewel unattended, he tossed it on the table next to the computer – it made barely a sound and could be thrown effortlessly, as if it was hollow. Shrew then jumped on the table and touched the computer screen.

Finding that the user interface worked with touch, Shrew browsed through several files, opening them and attempting to understand them, but most flew way over his head, and the ones he did understand were mundane and held no interest to him.

Taking great care to only lightly tap the screen out of fear that his sharp claws would break it, Shrew finally found a folder containing logs of research done on various Pokémon, in alphabetical order, no less. There was only one video log related to the Pokémon species Cyndaquil, and while Shrew was about to call Quill over, he decided it would be better to see it first, with the sound as low as possible.

As Shrew clicked the file, the image of Professor Krane appeared on the screen. Shrew had no choice but to believe it: the only human Shrew would ever consider liking in the whole facility was connected to what they did to Quill.

But now Shrew knew what he'd do when he'd meet the man, glaring at the monitor as Krane spoke:

" _Subject #0355, and one that holds special importance to the administrator. The Cyndaquil was given frequent injections to temporarily hinder its capabilities, rendering it unable to run, use its fire attacks or protect itself against fire. The long-term effects, however, have left it unstable. Injections are no longer necessary, but its powers seem to return at random intervals. We've been unable to suppress its power and the administrator has demanded that the Cyndaquil must not be fed the same food as the others. As a result, we've been forced to let the Cyndaquil leave its cage on occasions so it can release pent-up energy."_

 _Well, that explains something_ , Shrew thought.

" _As such, the Cyndaquil is the first test subject for our latest chemical compound that can boost Pokémon powers beyond their usual limits. The heat of its fire-type attacks has grown by three hundred degrees Fahrenheit since the last test, and it gained temporary immunity to fire. We thought it would make it ideally suited for reconnaissance missions in places hostile to human life..."_

Of course they did. Shrew wanted to turn off the computer there and then, wanting to punch through the monitor – Krane was only concerned with how humans could benefit from Pokémon, just like everyone else.

" _...that is, if there wasn't a side-effect we have yet been able to fix. The compound seems to have lowered its immune system and caused minor degeneration that has risen at a slow, but nonetheless alarming rate over the past few days. As soon as we noticed it, we assigned a team to work on an antidote, but I'm afraid time's running low. Unless we finish it soon, the only thing that can save the subject from a slow and anguishing death is to put it to sleep..."_

And with that, the recording stopped. Shrew was left staring blankly at the screen.

 _Degeneration_.

No, not Quill. It wasn't enough they had to do something to Shrew that he couldn't remember, now a Pokémon as kind and benevolent as Quill.

 _Alarming rate_.

The recording was made thirty hours ago. How much had this 'degeneration' grown since then. Has Quill noticed it? Has she just bared with it out of fear of telling Shrew about it? Or had Quill really forgotten what was done to it and she's just confused by her pain.

 _Slow and anguishing death_.

And, as the thought occurred to him, Shrew heard more whispers inside his head.

" _She has kept secrets from you. It might be contagious! It's for the good of both of you if you get rid of her, and do it fast._ "

"Shrew?"

Shrew almost fell off the table as he heard Quill's quiet voice from the floor. Looking over his shoulder, Shrew noticed the Cyndaquil looking up at him in confusion. Shrew wondered if she had heard anything.

"Did you find something that could help us?" she asked.

"No," Shrew said. "I mean, I'm not sure, it's sort of..."

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, damn it!" Shrew snapped. "I'm just tired of you keeping things from me!"

Shrew jumped off the table and in front of Quill, who took a few frightened steps backwards. Shrew glared at her, his claws extended and pointing at Quill's neck.

"S-shrew," Quill whimpered. "I haven't kept... I've told you everything that I remember."

"And you conveniently happen to remember at weird times, don't you? And you still somehow 'forgot' what they did to you at the labs. Well, what if I told you what they did?!"

"Shrew, your eyes-"

"You were their most special plaything! While you were wined and dined and even allowed to get out every once in a while, I got the worst of every possible test, I've been kicked around from one lab to another, kept starved in a cage, tranquilized more often than I can remember! And some things are still a blur to me – because they strapped me to an operating table and drugged me!"

"I-I understand, Shrew, but don't-"

Shrew lunged at Quill, slamming her against a steel cabinet, his claws right at Quill's throat, ready to stab through it.

But then he saw his reflection from the cabinet. His normally black, shiny eyes had turned entirely milky white, his irises and pupils gone.

Shrew's jaw dropped in horror as he let go of Quill. As he did so, his eyes returned normal, and he collapsed on the floor and started shivering.

Still shocked from what happened, Quill slowly approached the shivering, almost convulsing Sandshrew and lightly touched his paw.

"Shrew," she said softly, "whatever is it that's going on, it's not you."

"How do you know?" Shrew asked, curled almost in a fetal position, his tail between his legs. "You've only known me for a few hours... and just so you know, I had to fight against the urge to leave you to burn in the cage along with everyone else! I'm probably just as bad as the humans here..."

"You're not," Quill said simply.

"But I didn't mean to attack you!" Shrew assured as he quickly got back on his feet. "I swear, it was _that thing_!" He pointed at the jewel that lay harmlessly next to the computer.

Quill climbed on the table to work the computer, easily getting there without Shrew's help. Shrew himself, however, had been so shaken by the experience that he had to be pulled up.

"Maybe there's something in here about it," Quill said. "You take a moment to rest. I'll carry the jewel for a while. How did it...?"

"It gets inside your head," Shrew panted, feeling exhausted by what happened. "Whispers to you... makes you think and say things that... well, things you'd normally think, or thoughts that are on the back of your head, and then amplifies them. I was not myself when I attacked you, but – I could still sense myself somewhere, deep down."

"I'll have a look," Quill said. "That woman called it the 'orb'. I'll try to search for it.."

Minutes passed unbearably slowly as Shrew took a breather and Quill looked for the information. Shrew tried desperately not to look at the jewel. He could still hear the whispers as faint sounds on the back of his mind, trying to forget what he did and what it had told him. Shrew wished they could throw the thing away – but his plan could never work without it.

"Got it!" Quill yelled out after twelve minutes had passed, though to Shrew, it felt like an hour. "There's a whole folder dedicated to the thing – it's called the, uh, _'Griseous Orb'._.. I don't know what that means, but there are photos, lots and lots of text, another video log... come over here, I'll play it!"

Operating the computer suspiciously well, Quill opened the video log as Shrew hurried to sit by her to see what was on the computer screen.

It was another scientist, this one older, taller and more in command than any other Shrew had seen. He had gray hair, thick glasses and a prominent five o' clock shadow and his voice was deep and rough. Quill let out a brief gasp when he showed up on the screen, but fell silent so she wouldn't talk over him.

" _Confidential files – these are for your eyes only, and as such,_ _you_ _have to be at least Level 2 personnel, most likely a member of one of the higher-level research teams._ _Level 1 personnel viewing this file will be considered to have accessed this file without authorization, and will be held accountable. The Griseous Orb is a rare, mystical artifact of immense value and considerable danger, and I will attempt to explain the basics_."

The scientist in the video took a moment to look at his files, allowing Quill to whisper quickly:

"That's the administrator, Dr. Kaminko!"

Shrew wasn't sure what to comment, as Kaminko started to talk again quickly, occasionally reading from his notes:

" _The archeological survey group who delivered it to us believe it to be the real thing – a potentially indestructible artifact of immense power created by either humans or Pokémon, possibly even the mythical being Arceus itself, thousands of years ago._ _It is said to contain part of the spirit of a Pokémon known in the writing as 'Giratina', a creature banished to an alternate dimension five thousand years ago by Arceus and its followers after hundreds of years of war that almost destroyed the planet. Giratina is able to manifest in two forms, and in battle, either Arceus or its warriors were able to revert it to its weaker form and capture the spirit of the powerful, 'Origin' form to the Griseous Orb._ "

" _According to scriptures, around every thousand years or so, Giratina has made an attempt to return to this world. Though its plan differs every time, it is always forced to utilize creatures, usually Pokémon, it has manipulated to serve it, and its still-remaining minions, some of whom are believed to be capable of interdimensional travel. Every time it attempts to return, Giratina must obtain the Griseous Orb, or it won't be able to reach its full potential, and as such, is an easy target for other mythical beings in the service of Arceus, such as 'The Swords of Justice' and the 'Beasts of Johto', unidentified legendary Pokémon who appear in historical texts._ "

" _A wandering Pokémon trainer from Kanto, along with followers he had amassed during his journeys, stole the orb from the survey group, but through means unknown, the Committee and the Pokémon Association managed to retrieve it and deliver it to us for study, as this kind of clandestine research is our expertise. But an order of monks we contacted believe that_ _the time is nigh again. If the legends are true, Giratina has been thwarted several times over the past few millenia, but we have no idea how to fight it, and I have reason to believe that as the keepers of the orb, we are incredible danger. Standard precautions for dealing with unknown material must be taken at all times when dealing with the orb, which has to be isolated by a chamber with radiation shields._ "

" _As for Giratina, I have devised a plan together with the teleportation department. Should we figure out the key to opening a portal to another dimension, we will send a Pokémon to this 'other world', and use it as our messenger. With the Griseous Orb in hand, we believe we can make a deal with the world's inhabitants. The subject chosen to this test has been prepped for it for a while – it is subject #0035, a Sandshrew we received from the Cinnabar Lab._ _Besides immuno-boosting shots and physical alterations through external implants, a surgical operation where we implant an Everstone inside the Sandshrew will alter its physiology, allowing it to survive the hazardous atmosphere, though special breathing apparatus is still required_."

The video closed. Quill looked at Shrew.

Shrew stared at the monitor. The video was recorded several months ago.

_So. That was what I'm for. I guess that makes me special. Not any kind of strength or mental resolve. No, just some doodads they stitched inside me._

"Well," Shrew said finally, his voice completely flat. "Now we know what happened."

"Shrew," Quill said tensely, "I've heard the name 'Giratina' before. I think we should get rid of that orb."

"No!" Shrew objected. "The plan, I have to-"

"All right!" Quill interjected calmly. "But... let me carry it for a while? Now that we _know_ what it can do, it will be easier to ignore its influence."

Still shaky, Shrew nodded. He still found it impossible to swallow what he had just heard, but it all added up. The tests, the operations, the occasional pain he felt in his abdomen, why the food hadn't affected it... though it seems that reason hadn't been foreseen by the scientists.

 _Which is probably the reason I'm still alive_. _Not that it's anything to feel thrilled about right now._

But Shrew was sure that as long as they stuck to his plan, both he and Quill would see the surface again. They had to.

"All right," Quill said as she grabbed the Griseous Orb and jumped briskly off the table. "I noticed another door at the end of the room, probably leading to a room we can't get in from the outside. Can you...?"

Shrew nodded again, not sure what to say, so he followed Quill in silence.

The door at the end of the room was locked shut, but it had windows of armored glass in it that were far too small for humans to crawl through. As Quill was unable to use her flamethrower attack again, Shrew had to curl into a ball and use Rollout to smash through the glass, Quill following him while carefully avoiding the shards.

This room was definitely a Pokémon containment room – it was full of cages. There was no fire, but there were definite signs of struggle, along with the hatch of a ventilation shaft torn open and another door at the end of room torn off its hinges. To Shrew's dismay, most of the cages were open and empty, Shrew was about to approach a closed one, but Quill pulled him away.

"Don't," she said firmly. "I don't think there's anyone in here."

"But I see someone inside," Shrew said, "just let me look-"

"There's _no one_!" Quill snapped.

But she was soon proven wrong – not by anyone in the cages, but by the lights in the room abruptly turning on, briefly blinding Shrew and Quill. A small, blue Pokémon, no bigger than Shrew or Quill, jumped from out of nowhere and landed in front of Shrew and Quill, folding its short arms to look more imposing, failing miserably. Shrew didn't recognize it, but was able to tell that the new arrival was a dragon-type.

"Who are you?" Shrew asked immediately, taking a step back and pulling Quill away too.

"I should ask _you_ that!" the dragon Pokémon protested in a reedy voice. "The name is Bagon, and this is my turf! That's right, I run this place, and all the Pokémon here are my bi-"

"Seriously?" Quill asked with genuine curiosity, making sure to hide the Griseous Orb behind her back. "You?"

"Wha..." Bagon actually looked a little hurt. " _Yes_ , me! Sounds like you two are dealing with the humans – come to kill the last of us off, did you? I won't go down without a fight!"

Shrew glanced at Quill, and without warning, leaped at the Bagon and pinned it to the floor with incredible ease.

"Ow!" Bagon whimpered. "Okay, I'm down, I'm down, good fight!"

"Don't mind her," another voice spoke out, this one more high-pitched.

Shrew readied its claws, but from the shadows emerged another small Pokémon, this one with a white coat of fur, a thick tail and yellow cheeks.

"I'm Pachirisu," the newly arrived Pokémon said calmly, its paws raised in the air. "Or _a_ Pachirisu... ah, who cares, there probably aren't any others left here. You can let go of Bagon. She's a tad, well, nervous, but understandably so."

Shrew looked at Quill, who frantically nodded, so he let go of Bagon, who got up, glaring at Shrew in embarrassment, while Shrew just shrugged. He turned to talk to the Pachirisu.

"What happened to the other Pokémon?" Shrew asked.

Pachirisu sighed. "For all we know, we _are_ the other Pokémon. It was... there was between twenty and twenty-five cages here. When those humans in uniforms and those-" Pachirisu shuddered. "-other things came in, one of us, a Zangoose, managed to get out of her cage. She had a plan of escape from the facility, apparently - well, she had a plan. She broke most of us out of our cages... except the ones too weak to move," Pachirisu added with a sad glance at the cage Shrew had approached.

"And got out through there?" Quill asked kindly, pointing at the air vent.

Pachirisu nodded. "The door was soon broken by some humans – these ones wearing gas masks or something – but they didn't stick around. Anyway, before leaving, Zangoose said something vague about rising up against our oppressors and ranted about her plan, but it was far too dangerous to follow. Those who agreed followed her – those who didn't, got a chance to challenger her authority. No one who did so survived the encounter. After seeing the first few fall, the rest of us who disagreed hid, though Zangoose's goons slaughtered most of us. Finally, it was just down to Zangoose and eleven others, who escaped the room. Me and Bagon stayed behind."

"But we can't just wait it out!" Bagon yelled. "Something bad is gonna happen to this place, I told you! First those weird humans who weren't with the black-uniformed ones, then those other creatures... this place is not going to last! We have to get out of here!"

"Yes, we do!" Shrew said firmly. "This wasn't exactly according to my plan, but it'll do. If the two of you want to live, follow me. We can help each other out."

"Speaking of which," Quill said. "Um, Shrew, would now be a good time to tell us _your_ plan?"

"Right, yes," Shrew said and cleared his throat. "Well, uh, we head on to the last remaining place where they keep Pokémon – it's at the end of the tramway. We tell the other Pokémon what they have to gain by joining us and we'll form a group big enough to ram through the humans and break free."

Quill, Bagon and Pachirisu stared at Shrew. Quill was blank-faced, Bagon seemed to be on the verge of shrieking something and only contained her frustration due to fear, and Pachirisu contemplated Shrew's words.

"Uh, Shrew?" Quill asked quietly. "Is that really... all you got?"

"Yes, I know it doesn't sound like much," Shrew said quickly. "But it's the best we got. Plus we have something the humans want, they won't dare break it!"

"Where?" Bagon asked. "Show me!"

"Quill, don't," Shrew said. "Sorry, but you need to calm down first. Are you in on the plan?"

" _Plan_?" Bagon said in a shrill voice. "You're dooming us all, you... what are you anyway?"

"Oh, a Sandshrew, but, call me Shrew for short," Shrew said. "And this is Quill."

"Whoever!" Bagon screamed. "Your plan is just gonna get us all killed! You're just as bad as that Zangoose!"

"Bagon!" Pachirisu reprimanded. "You know that's not true. And I was originally planning on waiting this out, but I think you're all right that we need to get to the surface. You two seem to know what you're doing, at least on some level, and your plan is still saner than Zangoose's. I'm in."

"But... fine," Bagon sighed. "Me too, but I don't see the point. Zangoose and her minions have probably reached the other Pokémon and there could be a massacre happening there now!"

"We'll find a way," Quill said. "And me and Shrew have fought off humans as well as Pokémon bigger than a Zangoose. It's just a little, furry, wormy kind of thing, right?"

"That's a Zigzagoon," Pachirisu said. "Zangoose is like, between four and five feet tall, can make huge leaps, claws that are incredibly long and sharp and in the case of this one, a taste for blood."

"All right, we'll lead the way," Shrew said. "But we have to take turns carrying this thing we have. It's called the 'Griseous Orb' and it's... well, we, uh, don't know what it does, but it's clearly valuable to the humans and potentially dangerous. Don't worry, it looks big, but it's very light. You, Bacon or whatever your name was, carry it first. Also, keep an eye out of for any of the scientists. We may need them to get an antidote for..."

Shrew had to avoid looking at Quill.

"...for all the Pokémon hurt by the food. Now lead's head to the elevator!"

**~o~O~o~**

At level B2 of the main facility, the elevators opened with a satisfying ping-sound, and Wes instantly rushed in, revolvers at the ready. Making sure the corridor was safe on both sides, he let out another Pokémon: a Zebstrika, a large black electric-type with white stripes across its body. Rosa had decided to go with a Gurdurr, a fighting-type that was imposing despite its silly name. The others didn't have their Pokémon out yet, but kept their weapons at the ready nonetheless.

"Over there," Wes said, pointing to the left side of the corridor, a sign pointing at 'trams'.

The group started walking towards the direction the sign pointed at, weapons raised while still keeping their pace brisk. Getting bombed and reduced to a messy pile wasn't on anyone's agenda list at the moment, and time was running short, though Rosa and Bianca assured that if anyone, Hilda could negotiate more time for them.

Another sign signaled them to take a right turn, so the group did so, then had to stop as they saw a dead Team Rocket Grunt right behind the corner.

For a few seconds, the group wasn't sure how to react, until Cal spoke out:

"Ha! Serves 'em right."

"That about sums it up," Wes said. "Come on, we have to keep moving!"

"Wait!" Bianca said.

To the surprise of the rest, Bianca rushed to the body and started inspecting it. Rosa sighed in annoyance.

"Bianca, he's... she's... the Rocket's dead!" she snapped. "And even if not, we have no time to stop and help our frickin' _enemies_."

"He wasn't killed by our guys," Bianca said curiously. "And not by feral Pokémon either, as far as I can tell, not by normal Pokémon. He has a huge hole in the middle of his body and his... his..."

"What?" Wes asked.

"His organs aren't... there. Just a puddle of blood and some, ugh... remains. But he's been sort of... hollowed out."

Wes had to hold back a gag reflex, Rosa shuddered a bit while Professor Krane started breathing heavily, wiping sweat off his face.

"Bianca..." Wes said sharply after pulling himself together. "That's weird, but we really don't have time to think about that. Come on."

"Oh, sure."

The group resumed advancing towards the trams, though Wes was still bothered by the sight and couldn't help but to turn and look at the Rocket's body as he passed it, though he quickly looked away once he had confirmed Bianca's observation.

"Do some Pokémon eat humans?" Wes asked Krane.

Jasmine, however, was surprisingly quick to answer: "There are no known instances of Pokémon consuming human flesh. They have been known to kill humans, usually in self-defense, and during the war thirty-five years ago, but never consume our flesh, as it would most likely have harmful effects on their neurological system."

Everyone stopped for a moment to look at Jasmine, who sort of half-shrugged.

"...just thought you'd want to know," she said quietly and looked at the ground.

"Thanks, Jas," Wes muttered, not sure if he should be creeped out, and started walking again.

"Oh, this isn't good at all," Krane muttered to himself, still breathing heavily. "What have we done? This is all our fault. We should have never accepted the Griseous Orb, we should have never treated the Pokémon so horribly. There's always another way! That's why I became a researcher, I wanted to find ways to do things differently, do them better, oh no-"

"No need to cheer us up, prof," Wes interrupted harshly. "No offense, but you've done it already. You can't change it. Try to live with it."

"Yes," Krane sighed. "Yes, I know. But I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry! Sorry you all have to be in this mess. You are part of the E4 Strike Team? Trained in the Pokémon League by experts to do this kind of stuff, wetworks, things that the 'nice, normal people' shouldn't know about? Yeah, I'm the same way, I took the job here at Navel Rock to do research that was ethically murky, but necessary, or so I thought, so I'm like you, right?"

"You're not like us," Rosa hissed – she hadn't gotten herself together yet, but that just seemed to increase her determination. "You let all this happen. We're here to clean up your mess."

"Oh, yes, of course, I didn't mean that. I just – holy Crystal Dragon Jesus!"

The group had taken another turn, and the corridor they had just turned to was a mess. Pipes and wires exposed with chunks of walls gone, many lamps broken, blood smeared across the floor and walls and doors smashed in. At the end of the corridor, there was a pair of double doors that were still closed – the entrance to the tramways.

And there were bodies.

This time, Bianca just quickly checked the pulse of the first victim, a dead scientist, shook her head sadly and allowed the group to move on and make their way to the double doors. Just a few feet from them were two dead civilians in red, cafeteria worker uniforms and a dead security guard. Apparently they were trying to escape through the trams.

Krane marched over to the double doors, used his swipe card on the reader and placed his thumb on the scanner, but nothing happened as a red light blinked continuously on the reader. Grunting in confusion, Krane did it again, but got the same result. After staring at the reader for a few seconds, he made an 'ohhhhh' sound.

"Please tell me that's a good sound," Wes said.

"Uh, not in a sense," Krane said bashfully. "See, this light shouldn't blink all the time. I think the Rockets did something to it so we couldn't get down."

"Well, that's our department," Rosa said. "Come on, Jas. Uh, Jasmine!"

Rosa and Jasmine started working their magic on the scanner, Krane looking over their shoulders and giving the occasional pointer, desperately trying to be of use. Cal sighed and lit a cigarette while Bianca crouched next to the apparently dead civilians, inspecting their bodies.

"You smoke?" Cal asked Wes, offering him one.

"Nah," Wes said casually as he leaned against the cracked wall. "I'm a man free of any vices. Well, except the occasional getting plastered. And peyote. It gets really boring on the desert, you know. But I don't take it while on the job... except that one time."

"So what did you do?" Cal asked. "I didn't think the Committee would ever bring an outsider along to something this sensitive."

"Desperation makes you do strange things," Wes said with a tone he apparently believed to be sage. "And I've mostly traveled around Orre, righting wrongs and occasionally wronging a few rights – it's a balance thing. I'm not proud of all my jobs, but there's plenty of work in Orre that's on the shady side. The only safe places there are three towns and the research village near the Pokémon HQ – and even then I use the term loosely."

"Honestly, I'm just glad there's a guy like you here," Cal grunted and turned to look at Bianca. "Find anything?"

Bianca just muttered something in response, inspecting the bodies with a little more interest than Wes thought normal. Still, it's not like he was one to talk.

"What about you?" Wes asked, taking a liking to the guy. "Been on the team long?"

"I'm pretty new," Cal admitted. "Worked a while in Unova before this, but got bored of my old life and sought out new experiences. Transferred to this unit like a month ago, but I've made friends quickly. Like Bianca here, though I'd like to see someone who she _can't_ make friends with. Oh, and Ye... 'Amarillo'."

Wes frowned.

"I call her Yellow sometimes," Cal clarified with a smirk. "Not sure she likes that, but whatever. I didn't actually know her beforehand, but we got into the team at the same time, so we sort of bonded over that, I guess. Quiet one, that, but not in the same way as Jasmine here. Have you, uh, talked to her?"

"Not yet," Wes said. "There's something odd about her. I think Hilda can keep her in line if something happens, but still-"

"Holy crap!" Bianca shouted suddenly.

Everyone turned to look at her. She got up, though still staring at the bodies of the civilians with her mouth open dramatically. When no one else did it, Wes was the first to ask:

"Uh... what? They dead?"

"Oh, totally," Bianca said casually. "But I just... they weren't killed by bullets or Pokémon attacks either, nor were they carved up like that Rocket earlier. They have some internal burns, like from an electrical shock-"

"So, an electric-type Pokémon has gotten out and zapped 'em," Wes suggested with a shrug. "Sucks, but not a huge deal or anything."

"Can't be," Krane pointed out. "Their powers have been suppressed, remember?"

"Right," Bianca said, "and they have markings that could have only come from an energy-firing weapon. Like..."

Cal and Rosa looked at their own blasters.

"So, what does that mean?" Bianca wondered. "Did Team Rocket steal some weapons from the Beta team?"

Wes was about to offer his own comments, but was interrupted by the ringing of his Xtransceiver. Wes raised his hand for the group to be quiet and clicked a button on the Xtransceiver's earpiece.

"'Sup?" he asked, believing Hilda to be calling.

But instead of Hilda, Wes instead heard a young, smooth male voice, talking overly formally, sounding like someone fresh out of law or business school.

" _Ah, Mr. Marston – or you seem to prefer Wes. This is mission command speaking. Are you out of eavesdropping range right now?_ "

Wes looked at the rest of the team, who went back to working on the door or inspecting the bodies, Cal doing so with Bianca.

" _Then please move away from your teammates, if this is the appropriate time. Though from your reports, it seems that you've infiltrated the facility with ease and are making your way towards the objective_."

"Well why should I move anywhere? You're just a voice, and I don't care about the specifics of this mission. I'm just here to do my job and get paid."

" _Yes, your compensation is exactly what I was going to address – something that will make what Lance offered you seem like chump change_."

Wes tensed up and looked at his teammates again.

"I, uh... have to take this call," he told them. "Important from mission command, I'll tell you when I've finished. Just keep working the door!"

Wes practically ran behind the corner and back to the corridor with the dead Rocket Grunt, though he kept his distance from that.

"Okay, what? How much are you willing to offer?"

" _Ten times the value of the contents of that duffel bag Lance was toting around, plus whatever loot you wish to take from the facility – and don't act like it didn't cross your mind. Well, the Griseous Orb you'll have to give us, of course, but everything else is yours – no investigations will be taken, no one will come after you._ "

"If I do... what? Just exactly who are you?"

" _I can't tell you my name. But you have probably guessed that I am not with the Pokémon League – well, not a such_."

"...this 'Committee' I've heard so much about, huh? I've done business with you guys before."

" _Not directly, you haven't, nor are you doing it now. I'm merely an operative, though this is the closest you'll ever get – you should be honored. As for your task – well, as of know, you've probably seen more than a few people who witnessed the incident firsthand._ "

"Yes..."

" _Pardon me for occasionally resorting to euphemisms, but I don't get any pleasure from this. Any information about the Griseous Orb must be kept from the public at all costs. We have our ways of keeping any surviving staff from speaking up, but we can't take any risks. Yet, we nonetheless need one person to make it out alive besides Dr. Kaminko, as that person has to deliver the doctor and the orb for us_."

"One person?"

" _Surely someone with your experience has already wondered why we sent a team of twelve rookies to deal with the situation – and why we contacted you in the first place. I'm sure they will do what they have to – but after that, there's no more use for them."_

Wes wasn't sure what to say. Right after 'ten times the value', he had gotten all sweaty and got a tingly feeling around his stomach, almost willing to say yes to whatever this person had to say.

But he wasn't stupid, and at that moment, he realized he wasn't dealing with people he could toy with. Who was to say that taking the offer wouldn't cause him to meet a similar fate.

 _But still... ten times_.

And Wes had anticipated that most of the team wouldn't make it back – not these rookies. It was just important to make them believe otherwise as long as possible. And one of them, most likely Hilda or Rosa, would definitely raise hell if he tried to steal anything from the facility.

 _And after that, my choices would be limited_.

"Can I... call you back on that?" Wes asked carefully.

" _Of course. We understand that even someone who has done what you have would have second thoughts. Nonetheless, we strongly recommend taking the offer. We'll call you again once you have the Griseous Orb. Trust me, we'll know_."

And with that, whoever was on the other line hung up. The words 'ten times' echoed in Wes' head as he leaned against the wall.

_But can I really do that to these people?_

_And what's that rumbling sound_?

His head close to the wall, Wes heard strange rumbling from whatever room was behind him. Trying not to look at the remnants of the Rocket Grunt, Wes pressed his other ear against the wall while plugging the other one with his finger. Whatever it was, it was getting closer.

Suddenly realizing what it probably was, Wes took a few steps away from the wall and whistled.

His Zebstrika galloped towards him right away, just as something crashed through the wall Wes had leaned against, arriving to the corridor from a hole right next to the dead Rocket Grunt.

Wes almost let out a high-pitched shriek as he saw what it was: it was a gigantic skeleton of a Pokémon Wes had only seen in pictures of his mother's books: Kabutops, an extinct species. Its sharp scythes were raised as it stared at Wes – or at least its empty sockets were facing him. Somehow, the air around it seemed distorted, too.

"Zebstrika, Discharge!" Wes yelled the moment Zebstrika arrived.

Wes himself took a dive and covered his face as Zebstrika released multiple bolts of lightning from its thunderbolt-shaped horns. As the bolts hit the Kabutops skeleton, they exploded, covering the skeleton with smoke.

"Yes!" Wes cheered. "Way to go Ze-"

But as the smoke cleared, the Kabutops skeleton still stood tall, without even a dent on it.

"F**k!" Wes yelled. "What is that thing? Zebstrika, Wild Charge!"

Enveloping its body with golden electricity, Zebstrika started galloping towards he skeleton, while the skeleton started to approach Wes. As soon as it passed the dead Rocket, Wes noticed the Rocket's body sort of warped and distorted, as did the walls around it somehow.

"Zebstrika, stop!" Wes yelled quickly. "Don't touch that thing! And, uh... run!"

Wes started running back towards his teammates, Zebstrika following obediently. The others stared, wondering where the commotion was coming from as Wes approached them, screaming as he ran:

"Jas! Now's the time to show me what you got and GET THE DAMN DOOR OPEN!"

**~o~O~o~**

As the others traveled in B2, Hilda's group arrived one floor below them.

A Rocket Grunt stood in guard by the elevator, reacting with confusion as it arrived silently and suddenly opened behind him. But before he could yell out at his comrades, Hilda had grabbed him in a stranglehold, and a second later, she had snapped his neck with one quick motion.

"Come on," she whispered at Hilbert, Buck and Amarillo, weapon at the ready. "We can catch these guys by surprise."

Hilda's group sneaked around a corridor, only to quickly hide behind it again after they found they were near a lobby that connected to the living quarters and offices of some of the scientists, as well as an entrance to the hangar. In the lobby were around seven Rocket Grunts, patrolling around while in the middle of a ring they had formed, there were a dozen hostages, consisting of ten scientists and two security guards.

"All right, Kaminko is probably with those hostages," Hilda whispered as she, Hilbert, Buck and Amarillo flatted themselves against the wall. "We have to go the other way to see if we can sneak in."

"Poké Balls?" Buck asked.

"Too much noise and light," Hilda argued. "Whatever we do, we have to be quiet!"

And as she said it, something smashed through the wall between Buck and Amarillo. A Pokémon's red hand appeared through the crack in the wall, grabbing Buck by the chest with its long claws. Unable to contain himself, Buck screamed in anguish as the Pokémon's claws sunk into his chest, blood spurting out of his mouth as he screamed.

Hilbert and Amarillo managed to pull Buck away, but he had already gone limp, blood pouring from the hole in his chest. Hilda used the butt of her gun to smash the wall, revealing the red eyes of a Zangoose, alongside other Pokémon hiding in the crawlspace. Hilda fired her blaster, but Zangoose and the others managed to flee by slipping into the air vents.

Buck's scream had also alerted some Rockets, as two ran from the lobby along with a Raticate. Hilbert tranquilized one, while Hilda's blaster took care of the other one and the Raticate. Immediately afterwards, Hilda sent out her Emboar.

"Amarillo, help Buck!" Hilda yelled in a daze. "Hilbert, don't do anything yet," she ordered as Hilbert was about to send out Samurott. "We'll go through Scenario Eight!"

Hilbert sighed. "Fine, but be quick," he hissed.

Hilda ran around the lobby to get to the other side, while Hilbert raised his hands in the air and quietly walked around the corner.

He was greeted by five Rocket Grunts, a Muk and an Arbok, four of the Rockets' weapons aimed at Hilbert while the fifth held a knife at one of the hostages' throats. Hilbert was surprised at what he saw: the Rockets were jumpy, almost as if they were scared, despite their overwhelming advantage.

"No further!" yelled the female Rocket Grunt holding the knife. "We hold this floor, and we _will_ kill these people, we have plenty of where they came from!"

"Easy," Hilbert said, trying his best to sound calm while hoping Hilda was on her way already. "I'm surrendering. My people are hurt, and I'm outmatched. I can help you negotiate with-"

"Negotiate!" spat the male Rocket Grunt closest to Hilbert, an Arbok besides him, holding a hostage in a stranglehold with its tail. "Didn't you see those things that attacked this place? We lost five of our own people to them!"

"Things?" Hilbert asked, partly out of genuine concern, partly to keep them going. "What things?"

"We need to get out of this floor!" the female grunt yelled, fear making her lose her composure. "I swear, walk away and let us leave or-"

With all eyes on Hilbert, no one noticed a tranquilizer dart flying from the side at the female grunt's shoulder, causing her to drop the knife. She had time to turn and see who fired it at her before passing out. The others turned to look at Hilda as well, allowing Hilbert to fire a dart at the male grunt's neck, knocking him out and causing Arbok to loosen its grip.

This was Hilbert's cue. "DOWN!" he yelled at the hostages, who quickly complied while the other three Rockets attacked Hilda.

Hilda's Emboar swept the room with its flamethrower attack, taking out Arbok, Muk and one Rocket. Hilbert was about to run to help Hilda, only to see her knock one grunt out with a well-placed punch while tripping another one with a sweep kick before stomping on the grunt's head, quickly ending the conflict.

"All right!" Hilda yelled, breathing heavily as she calmly kicked away the grunt whose face she just squished. "We're in a hurry here: does anyone know where the administrator, Dr. Kaminko, is?"

The hostages were still on the floor, bewildered by their rescue, but after Hilda spoke, the tallest, oldest scientist of the group got up on his feet.

"I'm Kaminko," he said with odd tranquility and a loud, commanding voice.

"Good," Hilda said simply. "You're coming with us."


	5. Crossroads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The strike team and Shrew's Pokémon group meet up in an explosive confrontation and the mystery behind the creatures invading the facility is clearing up.

**Chapter Five:** _**Crossroads** _

Kaminko simply nodded at Hilda, being apparently the only scientist in the bunch not mortally afraid and on the verge of soiling themselves.

"Took your sweet time," he said gruffly. "What happened to the first team you sent? We saw them on the surveillance cameras briefly, but they never seemed to make it here."

"As instructed, their priority was the Griseous Orb," Hilda said formally.

Kaminko nodded again, grunting to himself. "Obviously," he said. "All of the lives here, including mine, are secondary to finding it. Have you already located it?"

"Not yet, sir, but one half of our team is looking for it and we received some help from Professor Krane."

Amarillo arrived into the lobby, hands and clothes stained with blood. Hilda and Hilbert immediately walked over to her, but Amarillo responded wordlessly by looking up at them sadly, shaking her head slightly.

Hilbert sighed and took off his cap, while Hilda just bit her lip.

Hilda tried to comprehend the situation - one of her own had died. Not Wes or someone expendable. One of her own people, the ones she spent day and night training with, bonding with and assuring them that as long as they did everything what she told, they'd stay alive.

Hilda didn't feel like crying – she had barely known Buck. But that only made her hate herself more. For months, she and Buck had slept in the same building, eaten together, sparred together, went out for drinks together, but how much had they actually talked about their personal lives? Their hopes for the future, their childhoods, their political opinions, their favorite movies?

Not jack sh*t.

Hilda took off her own cap, squeezing it in her fist as if it was responsible for Buck's death. Not saying a word to Hilbert or Amarillo, Hilda walked away from them, past the frightened scientists and a stoically observing Kaminko. She grabbed one of the wooden chairs in the lobby, and without warning, threw it as hard as she could through the glass walls of a nearby office, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

That made it feel slightly better, but it wasn't enough. Hilda grabbed another one, but before she could throw it, something stronger than her pulled it away.

It was her Emboar. It took the chair from her and patted her on the shoulder, smiling reassuringly. Hilbert, who was hesitant to approach Hilda once she got on the mood to hurl stuff around, also approached her carefully and, unsure of exactly how to comfort her, patted her on the back awkwardly. Hilda responded by grabbing Hilbert's hand and squeezing it.

"It wasn't your fault," Hilbert said softly.

"Spare me the clichés," Hilda groaned. "I'm in command – everything that happens to you guys is my fault."

"You had no way of knowing what could happen."

"Tell that to Buck," Hilda muttered. "Except that you can't, since he's gone. What are we gonna do with his Pokémon? Who's gonna tell his family? D-does he even have a family? I..."

"Yeah, he's gone," Hilbert said, "but that means we have to keep moving on. We can't get anywhere without you. And wherever Buck is now, he's not blaming you for this. I'd bet my life on it. Uh, crap, bad phrasing... I meant-"

"Shut up," Hilda said, thought with a slight smile. "You never knew how to cheer me up, did you?"

"Well, you're always in such a sunny mood that I don't have to."

"Dumbass."

"Yeah, I suppose," Hilbert said with a shrug. "But you're stuck with me now."

Hilda smiled even wider, nodded at Hilbert and put her cap back on. She took a deep breath and marched back to Kaminko and the other hostages, ready to jump back into action.

"Okay, people, barricade yourselves into one of the offices," Hilda told them. "Preferably not the one which I threw a chair through. Sorry about that, one of my troops just got killed saving your sorry asses is all. Make it count."

"We're all going to die," wailed one of the scientists.

"No you're not," Hilda said coolly. "Though the chances of that increase by every second you just stand there not following my instructions. There might be some Rockets left-"

"Not the Rockets," the panicked scientist said. "You don't know!"

"Okay, we ran into some escaped Pokémon," Hilbert said, "but they scampered off already, and you guys should have some ways of subduing them, right?"

"No, not them either!" the scientist yelled. "It's the... the... oh, no, they're back!"

Hilda, Hilbert and Amarillo turned to look towards the direction of the elevators again. At first they didn't notice anything, but they soon heard strange whooshing sounds, as if air was rushing into the room somehow.

Then, from the other end of the lobby, shadowy, purple clouds of smoke suddenly started pouring in from every possible corner: both corridors, air vents, cracks in the wall. They somehow distorted the air around them as if they moved like oily shadows, initially just flying around before beginning to approach the group.

Her mouth open with shock, Hilda raised her weapon while her Emboar growled at the new arrivals, but as the smoke creatures approached further, Amarillo pushed Hilda out of the way and simply raised her hand, the palm of her hand facing the creatures.

Somehow, this created an invisible wall which enveloped her, Hilda, Hilbert, Kaminko, Emboar and all the hostages. Hilda and Hilbert just stood there in shock, staring at Amarillo who gritted her teeth as she held her hand in the air, repelling the creatures away.

"I'll explain later!" Amarillo shouted at them. "Just get these people out of here!"

"I... right!" Hilda shouted, completely failing to understand what was going on, but reacting anyway. "Uh, where do we-"

"There's an emergency staircase which we can use to get to the upper floor," Kaminko said and pointed in the right direction. "We can lock it from both ends and hide there until your friends find the Griseous Orb."

"Hilbert, you heard him, take Kaminko there!" Hilda ordered, and Hilbert instantly grabbed the scientist and dragged him there. "Emboar, stay and help Amarillo in case any of them get through! Everyone else, follow me!"

"Better hurry," Amarillo said, sounding surprisingly blasé despite all that was happening.

**~o~O~o~**

In B2 of the inner, mountainside facility, the elevator doors opened with a loud ping, and Sandshrew, Cyndaquil, Pachirisu and the little Bagon made to carry the Griseous Orb ran into the corridors.

Shrew noticed the door of the floor's security room was locked, but ignored it as he focused his attention on the sign pointing to the tramways. Signaling the other Pokémon to stay still, Shrew sneaked forward and took a peek behind the corner.

Shrew gave the others the all-clear, and the four Pokémon started running towards the trams as fast as they could, Pachirisu outrunning everyone else while Bagon lagged behind – Shrew couldn't possibly understand why, as the orb she carried was incredibly light considering its size.

Dashing through the double doors, the group arrived to the tram tunnel. They all took a moment to look at the tunnel in wonder. It was incredibly wide and almost unnecessarily deep, the floor extending to fifteen feet below the trams. The tracks themselves were elevated, with lots of cables running above them. The tunnel was absolutely empty and quiet, two of the six trams sitting at this end of the tunnel. The other end was much further down, as the tunnel was a downhill from their point of view. Shrew believed that this part of the facility was approaching to the very top of the mountain.

Shrew, Quill, Pachirisu and Bagon ran into one of the two trams, closing the door behind them, only to be stumped with the controls. Deciding to throw caution in the wind, Shrew pushed the green button on the simple dashboard, but nothing happened.

"Oh, what now?" Shrew groaned. "Quill, you've used these before, right? Did I push the right button?"

"Yes, that's what the humans always do," Quill said anxiously. "I'm not s-sure how..."

"Oh, great!" Bagon whined. "I told you already! We are going to die here! I don't care what happens anymore! Any humans get in my way, I'm not going to show any mercy!"

"Calm down, Bagon," Pachirisu reprimanded the little dragon. "What are you going to do, anyway? Try to nibble at their toes?"

"Yeah, so in other words, shut up!" Shrew snapped, then noted the orb Bagon was carrying. "Also, you can stop holding on to that now. In fact, it would be better if you did. Just place it somewhere on the floor, as far away from us as you can."

Bagon complied, visibly grateful at not having to carry it anymore. Shrew looked at Pachirisu, who seemed to be pondering something.

"Ideas?" Shrew asked.

"I was going to talk about this before, actually," Pachirisu said. "They used me as a maintenance Pokémon around here, whenever the humans were too lazy to do anything themselves. I know quite a bit about the machinery here. I haven't worked the trams before, but if this works like everything else around here..."

Pachirisu touched the control unit of the tram, first inspecting the dashboard, then clawing the hatch open to see the machinery and wires inside. After inspecting the thing for a few seconds, Pachirisu released a burst of electricity, causing the tram to move forward with a nudge.

The tram then started moving down the tunnel, moving only slightly faster than Shrew and company could run. Shrew looked down, catching a small speck of light at what he presumed to be the very end of the tunnel... or he had sand in his eyes. The tunnel seemed to go on forever.

"So, Quill," Shrew said as he stared at whatever was at the end of the tunnel. "Where do we go when we get to the other side. Quill?"

But Quill had doubled over, weakly holding on to the side of the tram with one paw. Shrew, Pachirisu and Bagon crowded her.

"Quill!" Shrew yelled. "What's wrong?"

Chills went down Shrew's spine when he heard Quill answer in a weak voice: "I'll be fine."

"You really need help," Shrew insisted. "We need to find a scientist. Figure out what's plaguing you, and how to fix it."

Quill just nodded and sat down. Shrew was unable to tell if its eyes were closed or open, or how badly the experiments had affected her. He then turned his attention to the Griseous Orb, now looking harmless and inert as it was placed on the tram's floor.

Memories were starting to flood back one by one as Shrew just gazed at the ancient relic. He hadn't realized it before he heard the administrator's log, but he had indeed been drugged for several hours, right before he was placed back into the cages. After every test they performed on Shrew, the scientists administered toxins that erased any trace of the tests from the subject's immediate memory – that's what Shrew had heard Krane himself say once. But the events still happened and remained deep in the subject's subconscious, feeling like a hazy dream.

As Shrew stared into the center of the orb, Shrew suddenly saw a centipede-like creature emerging from it – initially it was small, but it grew enormous quickly, covering the entire tunnel with a dark aura-

Shrew blinked. The Griseous Orb was completely inert and there was no sight of this mysterious creature anywhere. Moreover, no one else had reacted in any way. Quill was still breathing weakly, Bagon seemed to have fallen asleep and Pachirisu was inspecting the tram's control.

"D-did you see that?" Shrew asked Pachirisu quietly, pointing at the orb.

Pachirisu turned around. "What?"

"I... uh, forget it. I'm just really tired. This whole day has been one horror show after another."

Pachirisu nodded in understanding. "I know what you mean. Seeing what Zangoose and her flunkies did to the other-"

Shrew raised his paw to silence Pachirisu, his ears jerked up. Bagon flinched and got up as well, her attention focused at the end of the tunnel.

"What is it?" Pachirisu wondered.

"I hear something," Shrew said quietly.

Suddenly, the Griseous Orb started glowing.

**~o~O~o~**

"Zebstrika, Discharge!"

"Meowstic, Psychic!"

"Aegislash, Shadow Ball!"

The combined efforts of Wes, Rosa and Cal's attacks did little against the Kabutops skeleton but slow it down. The group had gotten through the door, and Jasmine was now frantically trying to close it down again, the Kabutops skeleton slowly striding towards them, the walls and floor distorting around it.

"Jasmine!" Rosa said pointedly. "No pressure or anything..."

Bianca was by Jasmine's side, using a brow mop on her and occasionally checking her pulse as Jasmine fiddled with the door controls.

"Just a thought," Cal grunted in frustration as his Meowstic's efforts didn't seem to do anything against the creature approaching them, now only a few yards away. The corridor getting too narrow for it, the skeletal Kabutops had to use its scythes to clear a path. "Even if we close the door, I'm pretty sure that thing can just tear right through it."

"Probably," Wes remarked. "So why are you standing around here, then? Zebstrika, Thunderbolt!"

Cal returned his Meowstic and made a dash for the tram control unit. There were four trams at their end of the long, uphill tunnel – one leading to the top of the mountain, or at least close to it, by Wes' estimates.

"Got it," Jasmine said barely audibly as the double doors closed quickly.

Wes and Rosa returned Zebstrika and Aegislash, a strange, floating sword-like Pokémon unlike Wes had ever seen, but decided the time for questions was later. Wes, Rosa, Bianca, Jasmine and Krane then dashed to the tram where Cal was working on the controls, and soon he grunted in satisfaction as the train started to slowly move forward, Bianca closing the door hastily as the tram started moving with a nudge.

The entire group collapsed on the tram's floor as they were unfortunately lacking in seats. They all took a moment to catch their breath and sit in silence, watching the tram slowly head up the rails, waiting for someone to voice the obvious question.

"Professor," Wes panted, glaring at Krane. "I mean this with great respect and all, but _what in Buddha's name was that thing_?"

Krane clutched his chest, staring in the distance with wide eyes, barely registering what Wes had said.

"Professor Krane!" Rosa said loudly. "I'd like an answer to that question as well!"

"I don't know," Krane muttered, still staring at nothing in particular. "I honestly don't know! But I have a pretty good idea _where_ it came from!"

"Well?" Wes said.

Krane wiped his sweaty face on his sleeve. "You have to understand, this is just a theory. I didn't work in the teleportation department, and only the administrator knows the specifics of-"

"Get on with it!" Wes, Rosa, Cal and Bianca yelled at the same time.

"I'm interested as well," Jasmine whispered from the corner, but went ignored.

"A glitch," Krane said. "Something not meant to be. An error."

"Still not getting it," Wes said harshly, leaned closer to Krane and grabbed him by the collar. "Your people got us into this mess, so you will-"

"Just listen!" Krane yelled, prompting Wes to sigh and back down. "Thank you," Krane said in relief. "According to Kaminko, there are dimensions that run parallel to this one that we cannot see or influence in any normal way. It is unknown how much they differ from ours, but at least one dimension with Pokémon has been located. It is the dimension where Pokémon #201, Unown, is from."

"Those little floating eye-things?" Bianca wondered.

"Yes. They seem to be able to travel between dimensions as easily as if was just their daily commute. Kaminko thinks that in order to do so, there exists a space between dimensions that draws material from all of the others running parallel to it, the Distortion World."

"You mean that thing that appears in myths and fairy tales that traumatize children," Cal asked skeptically. "The one where a ridiculously powerful Pokémon was exiled five thousand years ago."

"It's just a theory," Krane said quickly. "I've heard rumors that our teleportation department was recently assigned to do research on some highly clandestine project – and I believe that project was to open a gateway to this dimension."

"Which is where that thing came from," Rosa reasoned.

"So why does it look sort of like a Kabutops?" Wes asked.

"A what?" wondered Bianca.

"Prehistoric Pokémon, extinct now, primarily living in the oceans," Krane lectured. "Yes, you see, I called the thing a 'glitch' because beings aren't supposed to exist in dimensions they don't belong to. If the legend of Giratina is true, then the Distortion World was probably a vastly different place before it was banished there, and it molded the place to suit its needs over time, assuming control of it and its inhabitants. I have no idea why a Kabutops specifically, but the otherworldly Pokémon do cause disturbances in the dimensions they slip in, and are forced to assume different forms than in their natural habitat. Is the Kabutops thing a joke, an intimidation tactic or something else entirely, I wonder..."

Everyone fell silent again, Wes rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He felt a stubble starting to grow, wondering just how long it was since he last shaved. And also the things he just heard, which Wes could honestly say he didn't get.

All he knew was that at least one, most likely several, nigh-indestructible things were in the building, the same one he tried to get out of with as much loot as possible. Taking and selling the Griseous Orb didn't feel like an option anymore, not since the conversation with that pencil-pusher. But how exactly did that guy expect Wes to somehow be able to – and Wes cringed just thinking about it – _silence_ everyone, get the artifact and deliver it to the right people all the while keeping his organs inside his body.

He did _not_ want to end up like that Rocket Grunt.

The whole team just sat in silence as the tram moved forward at a frustratingly slow place – Wes mentally prayed that the skeleton thing didn't know how to operate the trams. Wes looked at the rest of the team, who mostly kept their eyes to themselves. Bianca was quietly humming to herself and fiddling with her medical equipment, making Wes happy that the medic was at least stable. Rosa just sat still, not making a peep, no doubt thinking not only about Nate, but about what Kaminko had just said. She seemed to have gone noticeably paler, at least. Cal seemed cool on the outside, but Wes couldn't help but to wonder what his take on the whole thing was. Wes had grown to like him, but he didn't seem to interact much with anyone else, and Rosa's distrust of him was still on Wes' mind – his friendship with the mysterious 'Amarillo' making the issue even murkier.

And then there was Jasmine. Even she could do her job under pressure, and seemed remarkably cool-headed at the moment, just sitting still, knees against her chest, being completely still. She also seemed to notice Wes was looking, prompting Wes to quickly smile and make conversation:

"How are you doing?" he asked.

Jasmine shrugged and turned back to look at the tram's floor.

"Thanks for saving us, by the way," Wes continued politely. "That was some quick thinking back there."

Rosa sighed and rolled her eyes while Krane frowned disapprovingly, but Wes ignored it.

"T-thanks?" Jasmine muttered uncertainly. "Uh..."

Wes waited patiently for Jasmine to complete the sentence, smiling encouragingly. But she didn't seem to get the words out of her mouth.

"You don't have to make small-talk," Wes said. "Honestly, I know I never shut up, but I don't really like conversation for the sake of it, either. You guys are just the first people I've spent this much time with in a while."

Cal stood up and lit another cigarette, looking up restlessly to see what was at the end of the tunnel. Wes looked at him, tensing up when he saw Cal stare at something and open his mouth in shock, his cigarette dropping and prompting everyone to stare at him.

"Something's coming," he said and raised his stun blaster.

"You should have gone before we left," Bianca snapped.

"No, I mean there's another tram coming!"

Wes stood up too, staring in the direction the tram was slowly taking them in. Indeed, Wes could see something move towards them, and that something emitted a bright, golden glow.

"Anyone have binoculars?" Wes asked the group quickly.

Rosa handed him a pair, and as Wes looked ahead, he confirmed Cal's suspicions.

"Yeah, it's another tram alright," Wes muttered. "But it looks like it's empty, except for – are those Pokémon?"

Krane quickly snatched the binoculars from Wes, standing up and rudely shoving Wes out of the way, though Wes backed down anyway once he saw the professor's frenzied expression.

"Regular Pokémon?" Krane said, staring at the oncoming tram through the binoculars. "Yes, they are! So some survived after all. But what's that glowing thing, it kinda looks like... oh, dear."

Rosa stood up as well, while Bianca got on her knees and peeked over the tram's edge. Jasmine stayed perfectly still in the same position as before. Wes stared at Krane impatiently when the professor's speech devolved to terrified sputtering.

"Prof?" Wes said, tugging Krane's sleeve. "Hey, Krane! What is that thing?"

"That's it!" Krane shouted. "The Griseous Orb! They have it!"

Even Jasmine finally snapped out of it, but couldn't see what was going on as the others had crowded the edge of the tram, trying to see into the oncoming tram.

"Stop the tram!" Rosa ordered tensely.

"Hey, don't you remember who you put in command?" Wes snapped.

"Wes," Cal warned.

"Oh, yeah, right. Do what she said!"

Cal headed for the tram's control unit and pressed a big red button labeled ' _emergency stop_ '. The tram came to an abrupt halt, again with a slight jerk that almost made Wes lose his balance. Even without the binoculars, Wes could now see what Pokémon were on board as the tram approached them. They were all pint-sized runts who just reached his kneecaps – a Pachirisu, a Cyndaquil, a Sandshrew, and a Bagon that hopped on the tram's edge. Next, Wes saw it open its mouth.

"Crap!" Wes grunted. "Everybody d-"

But Bagon had already launched a beach ball -sized blast of blue energy towards the tram. As it collided, the tram jerked violently towards the left, tossing Wes, Rosa and Krane out as they had stood up carelessly. The three fell fifteen feet before they hit the cold stone floor. Wes and Rosa didn't seem to land too badly, but Krane hit his elbow on the rock, prompting an anguished scream from him.

The others in the tram reacted quickly. Bianca jumped gracefully to help the fallen teammates while Cal sent out his Meowstic, a feline psychic-type with white fur, ordering it to use Charge Beam on the tram's controls. The beam of electricity didn't hit any of the Pokémon inside the tram, instead stopping the tram completely. The Pokémon inside jumped out, the Sandshrew holding on to the Griseous Orb, but Rosa had already gotten back on her feet and sent out her Gurdurr.

"Knock these pests out!" Rosa ordered. "And get that artifact from the Sandshrew!"

"No!" Krane cried as Bianca was tending to his arm, having already patched Wes up with a quick injection. "Don't hurt them! Let me talk to them instead!"

"I thought you said their powers have been suppressed," Wes said.

"Probably subjects from the control group... or maybe their bodies reacted differently..."

Rosa and Gurdurr hesitated while the Sandshrew stopped on its tracks, ears pointing up, as it heard Krane talk. The other Pokémon made terrified squeals as they saw something above the group, hiding behind rocks.

The confrontation came to a halt when the group saw a third tram appear from the direction Wes' group had come from – it moved almost twice as fast as the normal trams, apparently powered by two Voltorb hooked into the control unit. Three Rocket Grunts and a short, dark-haired male scientist were on board, the latter apparently voluntarily.

"Oh, come on!" Wes groaned. "How did those guys get past that skeleton thing!"

The Rocket tram stopped almost directly next to the tilted tram Cal and Jasmine were still in. The scientist pushed the much taller and brawnier Rockets away to speak directly to the group.

"You there, Sandshrew!" he yelled at the Pokémon with the artifact. "Hand that thing you're carrying over and we'll leave with no fuss!"

"Yeah, no," Wes grunted. "Sandshrew!" Wes shouted. "Give the orb to us! We come in peace, these guys will just kill you if you obey them."

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't talking to you," the scientist said. "You people have caused enough trouble as it is – we lost contact with a squad near the teleport chambers because of you. The committee sent you, no doubt – just as quick to the trigger as the team who came before."

"And where are they?" Wes asked.

"Probably where we left them," the scientist gloated. "A little hard to flee when your limbs have all been scattered ten yards away from your body. If you're anything like them, you'll just want to lay down and die and this'll all be _much_ easier."

Rosa clenched her fists, her entire body starting to shake as she pushed Wes aside and pointed at the Rockets.

"Gurdurr!" she screamed. "Use Stone Edge and squish these s**ts!"

With its heavy steel beam in one hand, Gurdurr crossed its arms, forming orbs of glowing white energy around it that turned into sharp, pointy rocks that it launched at the Rocket tram, panicking the grunts and tossing one of them on the ground, the grunt hitting his head on the rock as he dropped. The others quickly sent out their Pokémon.

"Weezing, go!"

"Muk, go!"

Two purple poison-types soon appeared, one a large pile of sludge and the other a trio of conjoined, floating balls spewing out toxic gas. Wes helped Bianca drag Krane out of harm's way while Rosa ordered another Stone Edge, but Weezing dodged it with ease while Muk countered it with a Focus Punch. Both poison-types then launched Sludge Bombs at the Gurdurr, knocking it out.

"Jas, this would be a good time for support," Wes yelled as Rosa returned Gurdurr, took cover and sent out her Aegislash next.

"Rusty, go!" Jasmine yelled.

Rosa and Bianca reacted simultaneously: "Oh, crap!"

'Rusty' turned out to be a Steelix, a huge, gray snake Pokémon made out of solid iron, being over thirty feet tall and filling most of the tunnel. Wes, Bianca, Rosa and Krane had to run up the tunnel to avoid being crushed by the Iron Snake Pokémon - Wes understood why Jasmine hadn't used it earlier. Looking up at the tram, Jasmine had transformed into a whole different person, hopping off the tram and on Rusty's head, glaring determinedly at the Rockets.

"Slam!" she ordered.

The Weezing and Muk barely evaded the attack, but Rusty's swinging tail hit the tram instead, sending the remaining Rockets flying out as well, though they landed much more carefully than their comrade, who they seemed to ignore.

"Weezing, Flamethrower!"

Rusty had to back down now, swerving out of the way of the deadly flames. With the Muk left uncovered, Rosa ordered Aegislash to use Shadow Claw on it. Muk didn't go down, but its Poison-type attacks and punches were utterly useless against the steel- and ghost-type, causing Aegislash to win the battle quickly and forcing the Muk's trainer to recall it.

"Time's wasting!" the scientist yelled from the tram, holding a Poké Ball himself. "I'll deal with this – you go and get the orb."

Weezing was now battling Aegislash while the scientist sent out a Porygon-Z, a corrupted version of Porygon2, which immediately struck Rusty with an Ice Beam. The two Rockets dashed towards the little group of Pokémon still hiding behind rocks. The Pachirisu tried to bite one of them, but the Rocket quickly responded with a kick that sent the electric-type flying.

And then the Sandshrew did something unpredictable: it tossed the Griseous Orb into the air as high as it could and dashed towards the wounded Pachirisu. The Rocket Grunts ignored the Pokémon and focused on the orb instead while Wes reached for his holster... only to find his revolver missing.

With no time left, Wes charged at the nearest Rocket, tackling him into the ground, but the second one managed to catch the orb. The little Pokémon ignored the events, charging past the rest of the group, Sandshrew carrying the Cyndaquil while the Bagon and the wounded but still kicking Pachirisu followed.

"Now throw it here!" the scientist yelled.

The Rocket did as ordered, but Jasmine's reflexes were quick, and she ordered Rusty to block with its tail, sending the orb flying back at the sender – this gave Porygon-Z the opening to hit it with another Ice Beam that drained Rusty's energy. Wes elbowed the grunt he had tackled in the face, knocking him out, while Rosa fired her blaster at the other grunt. Aegislash had also finally beaten Koffing, giving it the finishing blow.

The orb was now safely in Wes' hands and the scientist found himself outmatched. Cal and Rosa had their blasters aimed at him, while Rosa's Aegislash floated towards him menacingly. Wasting no time, the scientist returned Porygon-Z, started the tram and ducked. The tram was then launched backwards, heading back to where Wes' group had come from. No one made an effort to stop it, as they crowded around Wes to focus on the Griseous Orb instead. Cal hopped off the tilted tram while Jasmine returned the fainted Steelix to its Poké Ball.

"So that's what we risked our lives for," Rosa remarked as she recalled Aegislash without even looking at it. "What does it, you know, do?"

"Beats me," Wes muttered as he weighed it on his hand. "But its really light – it looks like its made from gold or something, but it feels more like plastic."

"I don't think they had plastic like, what, five thousand years ago?" Cal said. "So, what now, boss? We can use that tram those Pokémon left behind to get back up. Mission accomplished."

Wes stared at the artifact he was holding. It wasn't glowing as brightly anymore and looked and felt mostly unspectacular, and yet... there was something entrancing about it, some sense of mystery, of ancient times. It was almost as if it spoke directly to-

"WES!"

Wes, Rosa and Cal turned to stare at Jasmine, who had shrieked to get Wes' attention. With all eyes on her, Jasmine stared at the ground and blushed uncontrollably.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I just assumed we were in a hurry and I was worried..."

Wes shook his head. "Thanks," he said. "And thanks for being there for us with that Steelix of yours. It was a good thing you saved it for now."

"So what do you say?" Cal asked again.

Wes weighed the question on his mind for a moment before answering. "Not yet," he said. "And we shouldn't contact Hilda yet, either. First, I want a full answer on what this thing does. Second, there's probably something still down where we came from – if not that Kabutops thing, then the Rockets, who might be fortifying their positions as we speak. I think we should try and find if anyone from the Beta team are still alive."

Rosa sighed in relief. "Thank you, Wes," she said. "I don't know if Hilda would have done the same."

Wes waved it off with a smile. "Now, let's find out what this sucker does. Where's Krane?"

Cal looked around. "Probably still with Bianca – hey, Blanc, are you okay?"

"Her last name," Rosa explained to Wes.

The group was surprised to see Bianca emerge from behind some rocks, holding her head and muttering dizzily. They then rushed over to her.

"I'm fine, just fine," Bianca mumbled as Rosa helped her stand up straight. "Just... gonna need a few minutes to get it together... think I hit my head there and I feel kinda sick."

Wes looked around, but there was still no trace of the professor. "Say, Bianca, where's the prof?"

Bianca sighed and shrugged. "Sorry," she muttered. "I saw it all – those Pokémon running away just rushed me and knocked me down. Before I passed out, I saw the Bagon and Pachirisu grab Krane and take him away."

Rosa looked wildly around the tunnel, seeing no trace of either the Pokémon or the professor. "But – we have to find him!" she said. "How else are we gonna-"

"Forget it," Wes said. "He wasn't really that useful anyway and we can ask that administrator guy more."

"Wes!" Rosa admonished. "We were in charge of his well-being!"

"Do you want to go find him?" Wes snapped. "Then feel free, scour this entire island if you have to. I guess your boyfriend will find someone else to save him."

Rosa glared at Wes, but followed with a sigh of resignation. Cal just shrugged, Jasmine was quiet and Bianca kept babbling nervously:

"Oh, I hope he's okay. I mean, you're in charge, Wes, I respect that, and I agree with you that we have to save the others. But still, what will those Pokémon do to him? And he had hurt his arm real badly, too."

"Hey, could be he's doing just fine," Wes countered. "They dragged him off for a reason, they could have hurt you much more but they chose to knock you out instead, they're not evil. They say Pokémon in general aren't – I don't agree entirely, but I think it applies to these ones."

"Unless they want revenge for spending their lives as lab rats," Cal reminded grimly.

Cal's suggestion was heard, but no one responded to it. Instead, Jasmine cured Rusty with a Revive supplied by Bianca that restored half its energy, and then had Rusty serve as stairs so she and the others could climb into the tram. Cal and Rosa managed to get the tram head back to the way the Pokémon had come from, and the journey continued in silence again, only this time they were one person short.

**~o~O~o~**

Hilda found an empty lab that hadn't been ransacked by the Rockets, the last along the corridor leading to the hangars and the teleportation chambers. Hilda made sure to mark the location in her mind, wondering if an escape was possible at all. She then looked at the civilians that had settled into the lab, some sitting down and catching their breaths, other making casual conversation to keep their minds off their predicament. One female scientist was even reading a newspaper. Along with her friend, she seemed particularly calm about the situation. As she walked around the lab making sure it was sealed properly, Hilda overheard the conversation between them:

"So what are you doing to do once your tenure here is over?"

"Never coming back to Kanto, that's for sure. I think I'll move to Hoenn, but I kinda need to save money, so I'm thinking of finding a roommate to split the rent with. But how the hell am I gonna find someone good?"

"Leave an ad in the company newspaper!"

"Are you kidding? You have any idea what kind of people write here? I already got fed up reading the personal ads. Listen to this: ' _S_ _ingle female w/ 90-60-60 body wanted for permanent, non-monogamous relationship. Pref. non-smoker. Send urine samples to Dr. Wilkins.'"_

"Ew. Isn't Wilkins that scumbag with the fedora from the biology department?"

Having made her rounds, Hilda stepped into the doorway and cleared throat loudly, capturing everyone's attention and ending the chatter in the room.

"You will be safe here," Hilda assured. "Another group of scientists also survived and they're hiding out in the medical wing. Once this is all dealt with, a group will be sent to pick them up, and then we'll come back for you and head for the hangar to wait for our ride. We can't use the escape capsules, though, I'm afraid. According to my CO, Team Rocket launched most of them empty, and there are still some around the perimeter waiting to destroy any stragglers. Just stay clear from the door and you'll be fine."

The scientists made noises of agreement and nodded nervously at Hilda, who, unable to offer any more words of encouragement, nodded back, closed the door and left the room, preparing to lock the door. The light on the panel was currently green, meaning the door would open anyone who pressed a button.

Hilda remembered her orders – and how they had to be obeyed at any costs. She was the first one to admit to herself that she didn't quite get the finer details of what happened there, nor did she have any particular interest in it, but even she smelled a conspiracy when it was right in front of her.

But why would she question it? She had been taught to follow orders, to trust her superiors and to believe in that even when society faltered, her commanders never did. They wanted to keep the incident hidden, because that would lead to panic, riots, violence, distrust, everything Kanto didn't need right now that it was recovering from Team Rocket's earlier shenanigans. It was for the greater good – the unit would be the only witnesses.

But how could she do it? The mission was to save these people. The door panel remained green. Why was Kaminko more important than everyone else? How many of these people had families, friends, lovers and a life waiting outside?

 _Just like Buck_.

Hilda sighed, and turned to leave, heading to the staircase Hilbert had brought Kaminko to. The door panel was still green.

Resisting the urge to go see how 'Amarillo' was doing with the creatures, Hilda knocked on the emergency staircase door. The lights in the stairway were all turned off except for the glowing sign signifying the emergency exit – but soon Hilbert's surprised face was seen through the door's glass pane. Hilbert unlocked the door for Hilda, then quickly locked it behind her.

"You got them to safety, then?" Hilbert asked immediately.

"What makes you think I couldn't do that?" Hilda asked in return, not looking at Hilbert. "Where's Kaminko?"

"Right here," the administrator replied gruffly. "Exactly what kind of training did you get?"

Hilda resisted the urge to kick him in the face, finally seeing him sitting against a wall, fiddling with his cell phone like a man with no cares in the world. Seeing him in contrast with the rest of the scientist made Hilda cringe. Instead, she turned to look at Hilbert, who clearly forced on a cheerful face.

"Don't worry, I locked the other entrance," he said. "This place is completely safe. Still best if we talk quietly, though."

"Agreed," Kaminko said before Hilda could get a word out. "You already lost one of your team, along with those goons who came before us, and who knows how that runt back there is going to hold out against those monsters!"

"How did Amarillo pull that off, anyway?" Hilbert asked Hilda, clearly wanting to avoid talking to Kaminko.

But the scientist responded anyway: "Oh, please. Haven't you ever seen them before?"

"Seen what, _sir_?" Hilda asked through gritted teeth.

"Psychic powers," Kaminko said casually. "They have been a subject of intensive research in some fringe groups, but no real funding has been provided – people don't tend to take it seriously."

"I know psychics like Sabrina can pull off stunts like bending spoons and levitating Poké Balls," Hilbert muttered, "but that was from a whole 'nother world! That could have even saved... well, I mean..."

"You can't just yell ' _Go-Go-Gadget Psychic Powers_ ', you fool," Kaminko lectured, "using powers like that takes intense concentration and drains your energy quickly, which is why people who use these kind of powers have very high metabolisms and have a high risk of passing out if they don't replenish their stores quickly. What I'm more concerned about is why your teammate didn't bother telling you about this before. This 'Amarillo' might be a spy."

"Rosa said the same," Hilda muttered, "but nothing points that way. Amarillo saved our lives, for heaven's sake! All for some stupid old piece of junk artifact..."

"Ah, yes, your ignorance would lead you to believe that about the Griseous Orb," Kaminko grunted as he got up and dusted his lab coat, "but only I know its true power. You see, thanks to a Pokémon trainer with a hero complex causing headaches to the Pokémon Association and the Pokémon League after becoming a local hero here in Kanto, a very overzealous archeological survey group handed it over to us. Our tests have shown that it is an artifact from another dimension and immensely dangerous in the wrong hands."

"But _what_ exactly is it?" Hilbert wondered. "Doctor Kaminko, with all due respect, as Hilda, uh, Lieutenant White said, people have already died for it, don't you think we deserve to know?"

"If you superiors didn't tell you, then I will not either," Kaminko stated with finality. "They ordered you to find it and get it safely back to them, end of story."

"But-"

"No, Hilbert, he's right," Hilda muttered, having pulled her cap down so Hilbert couldn't see her eyes. "Orders must be followed."

"We should worry more about actually getting it," Kaminko said. "If your friend fails, those creatures could come at us any minute now."

"Hey, doctor, what did I just say?" Hilbert said confidently. "I locked the door upstairs along with this one, _no one_ can get in unless I let them."

All of the sudden, barely visible in the limited lighting of the staircase, a familiar small, blonde-haired person suddenly appeared in the room, sweating and breathing heavily but looking completely unharmed otherwise. This prompted a high-pitched shriek from Hilbert.

"There you are!" Hilda told Amarillo. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," Amarillo panted and sat down, looking dangerously pale. "They eventually retreated when they realized they couldn't break through."

"I would thank you from the bottom of my cold lump of a heart for saving us," Hilda said as she folded her arms, "but can you first explain us _how the crap did you just do that thing_? ! You mean you can teleport?"

"Only locally, and not more than about thirty yards at a time," Amarillo said quickly. "And I know I haven't told you guys everything. First things first – don't call me Amarillo anymore. Just call me Yellow from now on."

Hilbert had finally recovered from the shock, though he, too, was breathing heavily. "You – you mean to tell us that you're not Spanish?"

"Well, not quite, no," the mysterious person before them, 'Yellow', remarked. "I was born in the Viridian Forest. People born in that area are often gifted with abilities like the ones I demonstrated, though many do not realize this and stop using their gift. Furthermore, I am the last human being to be born there before large parts of it were demolished. Since both my parents were born there as well, or so I have been told, my powers are even more potent than normal."

"And you didn't tell us this – because?" Hilda asked.

Kaminko frowned at her. "Humans with psychic abilities are carefully tracked by the Pokémon Association. Someone with your talent should appear on the records. What exactly are you?"

"I need you to listen," Yellow said calmly, though still out of breath. "Whatever you think you're doing here, it's not what you should be doing. The Griseous Orb can't be given back to these people."

"I beg your pardon?" Kaminko huffed.

Yellow, however, just kept going: "I probably should have told you sooner, but I wanted to make sure we got the orb before Team Rocket did first. I heard about this facility beforehand, so-"

"Um, sorry, question," Hilbert said. "Do you mean to say that... _you can see the future_!"

"Uh, no," Yellow said with a slight smile. "Clairvoyance didn't come with the package, even though a great deal of other powers did. But I have made sure to use them to their full extent only when necessary – that is, to protect others or myself from harm. I heard about this facility through my contacts, as well as the fact that the Griseous Orb was held there. First, I had to join the E4 Task Force, because I needed to get in, hoping they'd assign them as security. Then, a month later, this incident occurs and I hear that you guys were sent here, so I had Bianca switched to the Beta team and made sure their medic would be unavailable-"

"Hold on a second!" Hilda snapped, staring at Yellow in shock. "You lied to us, then! You took advantage of all of us just so you could steal the Griseous Orb yourself? Is that what you're saying?"

"No," Yellow said, staring right back at Hilda. "All I care about is getting the orb to a place no one can ever get their hands on it. The risk is too big. I-"

"Did you do something to the other medic?" Hilda pressed. "Actually – I'm not even sure I want to know. You've been lying to us about your motives _and_ your powers – you didn't think to use them to save Buck?"

"If I could have, I would have," Yellow said. "But-"

"No!" Hilda shouted, pointing at Yellow accusingly. "I knew something was up when they sent an outsider here, but to think one had sneaked into our own unit? I don't trust a word you've been saying – you need to leave right now."

"I agree, and you made the right decision," Kaminko said. "There is no room for weak links in this operation."

Hilbert didn't offer his opinion, just nervously looked between Yellow and Hilda, opening and closing his mouth pathetically.

Yellow looked at everyone in the room on last time before sighing sadly. "As you wish, Hilda. But I will continue to help you, whether you want me to or not. I wish you good luck."

In a snap, Yellow vanished. Gulping nervously, Hilbert looked at Hilda.

"Do you think that was wise?" he asked. "Yellow's powers sure could have come in handy."

"I know it was wise," Hilda simply said. "Contact Wes – I have something to tell him."

Hilbert didn't protest, but assumed his role as the communications expert, establishing a link between Wes' Xtransceiver and Hilda's, using his own as a relay, fiddling with the controls for a while to clear out static, until he finally gave Hilda the thumbs up. After some seconds of calling, Wes picked the receiver up.

" _Whatup_?"

"Hilda here," Hilda said professionally. "Have you located the Griseous Orb yet?"

" _Hm? Oh, sure, yeah. It's just... we know_ where _it is, just not how to get it. Team Rocket has some grunts guarding it in a well-sealed room. Just one entrance and no dead angles, blind spots or anything – so anyone going in will be seen for sure. This might take a while_."

Hilda raised her eyebrows at Hilbert while Kaminko inched himself closer.

"So, can you get it?" Hilda asked.

" _Hey, we're the best team you could ask for. It'll take, like, twenty minutes, max. It's jut that... well, we kinda lost Professor Krane to some wild Pokémon_."

Hilda bit her lip while Hilbert uttered a frustrated ' _Damn it_ ' on the background.

"I'm sorry," was all Hilda could say. "We, uh... we lost Buck too, for the same reason. We managed to find Kaminko and secure some other hostages, but he..."

" _...sorry to hear that, Hilda. I'm sure you did what you could. He was a good guy._ "

"Yeah," Hilda said. "Listen, call me back the moment you're done, because Buck wasn't the only loss. I have reason to believe Amarillo is a traitor."

" _What? You serious? Amarillo, the quiet little medic? She's a traitor_?"

Hilda flinched. "She? Oh, uh, yes. Amarillo, or _Yellow_ , apparently, managed to conjure up some seriously messed up psychic powers which, uh, _she_ hadn't told us about. And apparently she joined our unit just so she could get to the Griseous Orb!"

" _She say anything about Cal_?"

"Cal? The bomb guy? No, why?"

" _Never mind, then. I'll call you when this is done. Wish me luck_."

"Break a leg," Hilda said. "Or an arm – or a neck, what with Team Rocket being involved. Just make sure those guys get _hurt_. Over and out."

Hilda nodded at Hilbert, who closed the link. Kaminko rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Quite odd, that even with their manpower, they haven't moved the orb out yet," he mused. "Your unit must be better than I gave them credit for. A pity about Krane, but I suppose losses are acceptable, even if they happen to be actually useful people."

 _I will strangle you, you arrogant little sh_ -

"Yes," Hilda said tensely. "Now, since we got you to safety, doctor, I guess all we can do is wait for Wes' team to finish. Once they get the Griseous Orb, we'll organize a rendezvous somehow."

**~o~O~o~**

"You lied," Rosa said.

"Yeah," Wes said bluntly as he put his Xtransceiver away.

"But... why did you lie?"

"Listen, I think Hilda is all-around awesome and a great leader," Wes started with his hands raised defensively, "but I know that if we told her the truth, she'd want us to drop whatever we're doing and bring the Griseous Orb to her right away. If the rest of the team are still alive, they need our help now – not after the hours it could take us to get to where they are and come back."

Rosa nodded tensely. "Okay, but I don't like this."

"Who does?" Cal remarked. "Just ask Buck or Professor Krane what their opinions about this are."

Once again, no one responded to Cal's comment.

Wes' group had entered floor B2 of the mountainside facility, located inside the mountain but very close to the summit, there apparently being an emergency exit tunnel and some satellite dishes at the very top of the mountain, according to Jasmine's map.

"I can't believe Amarillo could have done that," Bianca said. "I mean, I only ever saw her once, but she still gave off a positive vibe, you know?"

"I don't know what her deal was," Cal muttered. "Whatever angle she had, she never told me. I just wonder who she's working for..."

Wes wondered it too, but as the group moved slowly forward, checking behind every counter, he also had bigger things on his mind – like the offer the Committee had made him. Was he really ready to do this? He needed the money, and even Lance's offer was just a small percentage of the amount he needed to put together. But even with all the immoral things he had done, he had never been forced to kill an innocent. Hurt, sometimes, but kill? Out of the question.

Also, Wes' story had not been complete balderdash, as there was a sealed room in the floor they were in – a security room, though one useless now that Jasmine had hacked into the surveillance system and was the only able to use it. But what interested the group were the sounds coming inside, as if they were muffled shouts.

The security room had only one door, but several windows in it, allowing the guards full view of the tram station. Wes motioned the others to hold still as he sneaked down the corridor and crouched underneath the window, wishing his hair wasn't so thick and that no one in the room could see it hovering around. Slowly but surely, Wes raised his head just enough so he could peek into the room.

There were four Rockets in the room, along with someone else Wes couldn't identify. The fifth person was tied to a chair facing the wall, the Rockets gathered around him. Wes identified two female and two male Rockets, the other female dressed differently than the others, perhaps an executive.

Wes quickly pulled his head away from view and motioned Rosa to get to his location. Rosa crawled to Wes at an incredible speed and took cover next to him, barely keeping her hair out of view. Wes gestured at the window, and Rosa thankfully got the hint and took a quick peek herself – the expression that appeared on her face soon revealing what Wes had suspected. All color drained from Rosa's face and her eyes widened, but fortunately she had the common sense to pull her head away from the window quickly.

Wes mouthed the word 'Nate', and Rosa nodded furiously. Feverishinly thinking of a plan, Wes welcomed the distraction when he saw Cal waving wildly at him, hiding with Jasmine and Bianca in another room. Wes and Rosa quickly crawled there and closed the door behind them, relieved to be able to talk again.

"That was him," Rosa whispered in panic. "They were torturing Nate. I don't care what any one of you thinks, we have to get him out of there. I swear, I'll do it myself if I have to-"

"Rosa," Bianca interrupted, smiling kindly. "We know. We think we have to save him too. Uh, right, guys?"

"Of course," Wes said.

"But before you do that," Cal said, "take a look at this."

Cal pointed at the wall on the opposite end of the room, seeing four hastily covered people laying on the floor, some covered in puddles of blood. The group walked over to them, Bianca instantly crouching next to all of them, feeling their pulses. Wes looked at their attire – one of them was a male scientist, while the other three were two men and a woman wearing dark blue uniforms of some kind. Cal was wearing a similar one.

Wes turned to look at Cal. "Are they...?"

Cal nodded. "And that just leaves their leader, Nate, who at least is still alive for the time being."

"These two are definitely dead," Bianca said calmly, referring to two strike team members. "But I think... hey, the scientist is alive."

Bianca injected the scientist with a syringe that slowly brought the groggy man up. Wes joined Bianca, crouching over the two strike team members she had pronounced dead – one of which sported a rather expensive watch on his wrist.

"Oh, sweet, loot at last," Wes remarked. "I'll take _this_."

"Wes!" Rosa reprimanded.

"You think he'll miss it?"

"Thank you so much," the scientist told Bianca. His face was smeared with blood all over, as was his coat. "I... I am not quite sure what happened. I was going to get help, but the Rockets attacked me – they must have thought I was dead. I was out of it until now – oh, goodness, my colleagues! They were a couple of them holed up in a lab in this floor."

"We'll check it out," Bianca said, "can you walk?"

"I... don't think so," the scientist groaned, clutching on a still-bleeding wound near his stomach. With his bloodied hands, he grabbed Bianca by her collar weakly. "Please, just leave me behind and go get my colleagues. You have to... get us out of here... please. Some of the staff lost hope when we heard the rumors, saying that instead of a rescue crew, someone would come and... silence us all..."

The scientist caught Wes staring at him, and to Wes' surprise, he mustered a weak smile.

"Good to see we're not considered... expendable," the scientist grunted. "Now get going."

"In a minute," Wes said as he pocketed the watch he had stolen. "We're getting them out, and as long as you're still alive, we're doing the same to you. Bianca, can you-"

"I'll carry him," Jasmine said, once again surprising everyone that she was still there.

And just like that, Jasmine walked over to the wounded scientist and slugged his arm over her shoulder, lifting him with surprising ease considering Jasmine's thin frame. Bianca just shrugged and went to work on the third strike team member, who surprised her when he suddenly started moving.

"Wow, that was quick – didn't even heal him yet," Bianca said casually. "Hey, calm down, you're all right, um... Cal," she whispered. "What's his name again?"

Cal glanced at him. "Matthews, I think," he said nonchalantly.

The strike team member was in much better shape than the scientist, though still covered with wounds and bruises, barely regaining consciousness.

"Hi, it's me!" Bianca chirped and gave Matthews a similar injection. "You're gonna be okay, and Nate survived as well."

"Yeah, speaking of," Rosa said impatiently.

"Yeah, okay, I got it," Wes said. "Everyone gather round... I think I have a plan."

**~o~O~o~**

"Miss Domino, he won't take much more of this-"

"Oh, is that right? He better hurry up and give us what we want, then."

Wes was watching the female Rocket Executive with blonde hair, Domino, apparently do something to the brown-haired and brown-eyed Nate, who wore a blue uniform like the other strike team members. Whatever it was, it was painful, causing Nate to scream and his face to contort horrifically. Nate was in a terrible shape just like the Matthews and the scientist had been, and covered with burn marks on top of all that.

Nate could only mutter in protest, his eyes rolled to the back of his head: "Go... go to... yourself..."

Domino just smiled. "Well, if you didn't _know_ where it is, we could have spared our breath." She raised the black tulip she was carrying and brought it close to his face. "Now we can finally move to doing this for _my_ amusement..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I thought I'd finally found the restrooms."

All four Rockets and even their Golbat and two Machoke turned to look at Wes, who had forced the door open with a device Jasmine had given him. He leaned on the doorway with one hand, holding the other out of sight.

"No!" Domino yelled when one of the Rockets was about to charge at Wes. "It's a trick! But I suppose you could help us, you see, _he_ wasn't quite co-operative," she nodded in Nate's direction. "We were having a bit of a disagreement, and I just can't seem to control my temper sometimes."

"Happens to the best of us," Wes said. "And you, too, apparently. But hey, I'm just visiting the place. You happened to attack on 'Bring Your Daughter To Work' – day."

Domino smiled smugly and put her gloved hands on her hips, focusing fully on Wes. "Very nice," she said. "You see, we're looking for the filthy, odious Sandshrew who happened to steal something of mine. You may have seen it – golden, fairly large, octagon-shaped. Just imagine what an ancient artifact with untold power looks like, assuming you have the ability."

Wes pretended to ponder it. "Hmm... well, there was something. I was going to use it as a doorstop, but hey, if you want it so much..."

He showed his other hand to the Rockets, casually balancing the Griseous Orb on top of it. The three Rocket Grunts tensed up while Domino stepped away from Nate and pointed Wes with her tulip.

"Very good," she said, though not smiling anymore. "Now, you got two options here: hand it over to us, or have my associates rip it from your sizzling dead hands."

"Ah-ah!" Wes said, raising a finger while pretending to almost drop the orb. "Any sudden movements and I might break this precious artifact of y-"

"Oh, piss off," Domino interrupted. "This is an ancient relic made five thousand years ago by forces beyond our understanding – it's not a goddamn Tupperware bowl. Just get it from him."

The three Rockets and their Pokémon rushed Wes, who quickly ran past the corridor, the Griseous Orb tucked under his arm. Domino glared Nate one last time and grabbed his right hand. Suddenly, she twisted his index finger upwards, breaking it with a satisfying snap that made Domino smile again, while Nate screamed even louder.

"Well, at least you were of some use," Domino said. "Try not to die before I get back."

Domino ruffled Nate's hair condescendingly before slowly walking away, leaving Nate tied to the hair, panting and occasionally letting out an anguished groan due to his finger. When he heard steps approaching a minute later, he desperately tried to get rid of the ropes.

But he almost fainted in shock when he saw that instead of Domino, he was approached by Rosa, followed by Cal, who stayed by the door with his blaster ready.

"Shh!" Rosa hissed quickly when Nate was about to mumble something "We're here to rescue you, but that won't work if you're dead. Just stay still – I'll untie you and Bianca can patch you up."

"Rosa, I..." Nate grunted. "I have something to tell you..."

"Tell it when we're tanning on a beach in Slateport City after all this," Rosa said quickly as she hastily untied the rope keeping Nate in the chair. "Remember? I promised you, didn't I?"

Meanwhile, Wes was still running from the Rockets, irritating them with taunts and making 'woop, woop' noises, dodging the electrical attacks they fired, presumably with stolen stun blasters. When there was enough distance between him and his enemies, Wes dug out Espeon's Poké Ball and sent the Sun Pokémon out.

With two Psybeam attacks, Wes managed to knock out a Rocket and their Machoke, but the others were merely slowed down.

"Espeon, Morning Sun!"

Espeon's next attacked filled the whole corridor with a white, penetrating light that caused the remaining Rockets and their Pokémon to stumble and fall. With that opening, Wes returned Espeon and sent out his Zebstrika instead, ordering a Thunderbolt. The shock knocked out Golbat, the other Machoke and both remaining Rocket Grunts, who were still temporarily blinded and had nowhere to run.

With that, Wes returned Zebstrika as well, stepping over to the unconscious Rockets, grinning triumphantly.

"Hah! How did you guys ever take out this facility," he gloated. "But yeah, I'm just gonna go back over there and keep being awes-"

Wes's sentence was cut off by a sudden punch in the face by Domino, who had managed to sneak up on him during the carnage. Wes tried to go for his Poké Balls, but Domino stabbed him square in the chest with her tulip, electrocuting him. As Wes' entire body felt like it was being burned from the inside, Wes let out a scream and collapsed on his knees, conscious and alive, but only barely. Domino kicked Wes in the back, letting him fall flat on his face, the Griseous Orb dropping and rolling a few feet away.

Domino took notice of it, but couldn't help but to plant her foot on Wes' neck and press down slightly, causing another pained grunt from Wes.

"No, don't get up, please, I insist," Domino taunted. "You know, my last plaything only lasted for a measly ten minutes before he was already one foot in the grave – I didn't even get a chance to use my tulip. With all the effort you went through to fetch the Griseous Orb for me, I really wanted to give you something back – so how about a hundred volts worth for starters?"

Domino used her tulip from afar, blasting Wes with an electric shock that caused him to scream again, his body jerking involuntarily.

"Bravo," Domino said. "Not many would still be conscious after that – of course, had I hit you with it directly, your days of being conscious would have been over for good. Now, do you have any other cute remarks for me?"

Wes just groaned, attempting to get up from the floor only to be pushed back again by Domino.

"Oh, no, this isn't good at all," she fake-lamented. "Really, now, I expected you to give me a little more fun than the Wonder Boy back there. It seemed like you had seen your share of pain before, but I guess I was mistaken. Oh well, I've still got the other one waiting for me – goodbye."

Domino aimed her tulip at Wes, who lay helplessly on the ground, the fired an even more powerful blast of electricity – which was immediately sucked away by another Pokémon.

Domino was suddenly facing a Magneton that floated from behind the hallway's corner and straight at her, followed by its trainer, Jasmine. Domino tried to use the tulip on her, only for Magneton to easily drain the attack on itself. Jasmine was soon followed by Cal, who pointed his blaster at Domino.

With no other alternatives, Domino pocketed her tulip and glibly raised her hands up, still smiling even when Jasmine helped the burnt and barely conscious Wes up on his feet.

Suddenly, Domino's radio crackled: " _Miss Domino, did you find what you were looking for. Do you need reinforcements_?"

For a moment, everyone just stood still, Cal and Jasmine's Magneton ready to shock Domino if she made a move – but Magneton was weakened and Cal's hands were shaking, while Domino kept on smiling.

" _Miss Domino, I repeat, do you require assistance_?"

Domino threw herself on the floor and easily rolled away from Cal's shot, while Magneton fainted from exhaustion. Pressing a button on the radio, Domino spoke rapidly while pulling something else from her pocket:

"I found some intruders at Level B2 of the mountainside facility – send backup immediately!"

Before Cal could fire again, Domino threw a pellet on the floor that filled the corridor with thick smoke. As it cleared, Domino had predictably disappeared, no doubt ready to receive the reinforcements. Wasting no time, Jasmine returned Magneton and Cal helped her escort Wes to the safety of another lab.

**~o~O~o~**

Making their way through the tunnel, Shrew and company had sneaked into an empty office via an emergency hatch, dragging the unconscious Professor Krane with them. The four Pokémon seated him in a chair and waited for him to wake up, wondering about what in the name of the divine Dialga just happened back there.

"...and somehow I just snapped, I wasn't even thinking about anything," Bagon ranted passionately. "I just opened my mouth and boom – Dragon Rage, right at 'em! I couldn't use any of my special moves back when Zangoose attacked us!"

"I could use my fire-type moves, too," Quill said, having mostly recovered from whatever had ailed her in the tram tunnel. "It sort of comes and goes..."

"Well, he will answer our questions," Shrew said, gesturing at Krane, who was groaning and moving about, ready to come to. "I can't believe we were so lucky... not only did we find a scientist, but it's Professor Krane himself. If anyone can and will help us, it's him!"

"Yeah, no offense, Shrew," Pachirisu said carefully, "but how exactly are we going to ask him? He's human."

"The human responsible for all the tests, no less," Bagon growled.

"He's not like the other humans here," Shrew insisted. "He's-"

"What, he treated _you_ like a pet?" Bagon asked. "That's great, I'm real happy for you! Had I known that, it would have been a _real_ comfort while _we_ got the brunt of the experiments."

"Hey, you have no idea what they did to me!" Shrew argued – even with the Griseous Orb gone, his patience was dwindling. "Surgical procedures, implants, days spent without food, regular beatings whenever I was out of line-"

"He's waking up," Quill said softly.

The argument broken up, the four Pokémon quietly watched professor Krane wake up. Rubbing his face and adjusting his glasses, he slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room in a daze. Looking down, he finally saw the four Pokémon staring at him and almost jumped off the chair.

"No!" he yelled. "I swear, I didn't want to hurt you! Please, I'll go quietly, whatever you want me to do, I'll do for you, just don't kill me, please-"

"Professor Krane," Shrew told him despite knowing that to the professor, it just sounded like Shrew was making random squeaks and squeals. "Calm down, we want to you to help us out."

"A S-sandshrew?" Krane stuttered as he focused on the Mouse Pokémon and relaxed a little. " _The_ Sandshrew? Shrew? What's going on out here – oh, wait this is pointless."

"This _is_ pointless," Pachirisu told Shrew. "He can't understand us. But I still think bringing him along was a good idea, Shrew."

"In what way?" Shrew wondered.

"Well... we can use him as a human shield when trying to escape," Pachirisu suggested, to which Bagon nodded furiously.

"Um, I don't know what you're, err, talking about," Krane said, slowly about to get up from his chair. "B-but, I promise, I will soon – this looks like Amanita's office. She had the prototype here somewhere, so just let me grab it from her drawers – I promise I'm not going for a weapon. Um, I hope you can at least understand me."

Slowly and keeping his hands in the air, Krane got up from the chair and inched towards the drawers. The Pokémon eyed him suspiciously, but let him do it.

"He's fooling us," Bagon insisted. "He's going to kill us all."

"He won't!" Shrew said. "Pachirisu, if it looks like he does, shock him. But only _if_ you're sure."

"All right," Pachirisu muttered, his cheeks sparkling with electricity. "But I'm not in the condition to permanently disable, just hurt him a little."

"If it comes to that, Quill can do it," Shrew said, though Quill didn't answer.

"Why not me?" Bagon wondered.

"Why don't you think about that for a while," Shrew grumbled.

They watched Krane open the drawer. Just to make sure his comrades wouldn't do anything, Shrew climbed on the table to see what Krane was pulling out. It didn't look like a weapon, but more like a large headset microphone, the microphone part sticking forward instead of towards the wearer's mouth. Krane slowly put it on his head, then looked at Shrew in anticipation.

"All right," he said calmly, switching the device on and putting his hands in the air again. "Try saying something to me again."

"Uh... hello, professor," Shrew said.

Krane went pale and collapsed on the floor, eyes wide and locked at Shrew, who tilted his head curiously. Then, as the Pokémon just wondered what was wrong with him, Krane suddenly responded:

"H-hello to yourself, Shrew."


	6. Distortion World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In order to stop the invasion, Shrew and Wes must travel with the mysterious Yellow to an alternate dimension, the soruce of the strange creatures.

**Chapter Six: _Distortion World_**

Professor Krane stood in shock, having just had the weirdest experience of his life: he had just finished a conversation with a group of Pokémon, hearing them squeak, squawk, grunt and whatever in their own language – while also hearing a synthesized voice translate every word into his ear. He stared at the Sandshrew, Cyndaquil and Bagon he had just spoken to, still attempting to comprehend the situation.

The three Pokémon were equally shocked - not least because their experiences with humanity were usually limited to brutal experiments. Shrew was the first to recover, though.

"Ugh, why are humans always so insistent on over-thinking everything?" Shrew grunted. "Always up with the 'what am I' and 'this changes everything'. Time's wasting!"

"S-sorry," Krane stuttered. "This is just... a lot to take in right now..."

"Same for us," Shrew said, "but it doesn't change anything – can you do it or not? In case you didn't notice, we're in the middle of a battle against some creepy hell army here! If we have any chance of getting out, we need Quill to get better!"

"Shrew!" Quill gasped.

"The hell ? !" Bagon protested. "Just a couple of hours ago, you said we were supposed to find the other Pokémon and amass a strong enough force to break through!"

"We will!" Shrew told the dragon-type, eyes locked with Krane. "But this needs to be done first – I'm kinda making this up as I go along, okay?"

"That much was obvious," Bagon muttered.

"I _think_ I can do it," Krane said quietly. "I don't _know,_ I _think_. Do you-"

"Yes, of course we understand, we're all fully grown Pokémon, not infants!" Shrew snapped. "Doesn't a Pokémon researcher know better?"

Krane almost smiled. "Just wanted you to know that there's no guarantee this'll work. I told the administrator that I'd like to find a way to reverse the effects of this 'degeneration' the Pokémon have experienced, but he claimed it would be a waste of time and resources. _But_ -" he said quickly when Shrew extended his claws, " _-_ I happened to do some research on it whenever I had the time. If you can get me to one of the labs on this floor, I can try to complete one."

"Shrew..." Quill muttered. "You didn't tell me anything about this? H-how bad is it?"

Shrew sighed and glanced at Krane briefly before answering: "I'm not sure. But either way, you won't be feeling sick after this anymore, I promise."

"One question, prof," Bagon said. "How come I was able to attack your tram back at the tunnel even though I couldn't even spit out a puny Ember before I met these two?"

"I don't know the details of _all_ the projects," Krane pondered. "There are several theories. Maybe you got a power boost from something, maybe the condition is temporary and you can use your attacks either randomly from time to time or during emotional outbursts... or maybe you were in a control group, I'm not sure."

"How do you feel now?" Quill asked Bagon.

"Certainly less weak than back at the room where you found me from," Bagon said. "But I don't think I could use that attack again – I didn't even do it on purpose back there."

The argument was dropped when Shrew noticed Pachirisu slipping into the room.

"Where did you go?" Shrew asked. "Do electric-types have smaller bladders?"

"Just checking the coast was clear," Pachirisu mumbled. "Shrew, I want to ask you something."

"Uh, can it wait?" Shrew asked. "We should get going to one of those labs? _Is_ the coast clear?"

"For now," Pachirisu said. "But I really need to ask you this, okay?"

"Yeah, fine, ask!"

"...why did you toss the Griseous Orb away like that?"

Shrew stared at Pachirisu. "I thought it was obvious – we needed to distract the humans."

"Now we lost our leverage," Pachirisu pointed out flatly. "And you said that thing is powerful and dangerous."

"Who cares?" Bagon laughed. "We now have a better one – a human shield," she nodded at the professor, who shuddered in his chair but didn't protest.

"As if they care about him," Pachirisu argued. "The people who could have done all this don't care in the slightest about the loss of one more life. And you were involved in some experiment related to it, Shrew! We could have asked the professor about it some more."

"I don't know anything!" Krane squealed. "I mean, about the orb, I know a lot of other stuff, though. Did you know that there's a Pokémon that evolves only if you hold it upside-down?"

The Pokémon ignored him – Shrew stared at Pachirisu, narrowing his eyes.

"I don't remember telling you about any experiment with it," Shrew muttered.

Pachirisu and Shrew stared at each other in complete silence for a few seconds, Quill and Bagon glancing at each other warily, then observing the two from the sidelines. Even Krane had frozen still and was looking at the two rodent Pokémon. Finally, Pachirisu smiled.

"Well," he said, "now we know."

Pachirisu lunged at Shrew using Quick Attack, moving faster than any other Pokémon in the room could. Shrew was hit in the stomach, and as he tried to retaliate with Slash, Pachirisu jumped away and landed next to Bagon. Using his big, fluffy tail, Pachirisu grabbed Bagon in a stranglehold.

"Stay still, both of you," Pachirisu yelled. "I still have enough juice left in me to stop her heart if I want to."

Bagon wheezed hoarsely as Pachirisu squeezed her throat even more. Shrew raised his paws in surrender.

"Okay, calm down!" he snapped. "What do you want?"

"We had it on our grasp," Pachirisu whispered manically as Bagon struggled futilely against him. "The Griseous Orb, Shrew! You don't even have the slightest of clues about what it does!"

"All I know is that everyone here seems to want it," Shrew said, "so I guess you're right there. But how does _that_ help you get it back?"

"...don't you want to know _why_ I want it?" Pachirisu wondered.

"Yeah, but I have more important matters to think about, too," Shrew said evenly. "Like the safety of me and Quill. And Bagon's windpipe, which you're about to crush – strong tail you got there. Loosen up a little and maybe we can cut a deal."

" _Shrew... Shrew... can you hear me?_

Shrew tensed up, gasping but hiding his shock mostly. Pachirisu was ranting and monologuing something about fools and their weak understanding, which Shrew just nodded to, but focused mostly on the voice that suddenly appeared in his head. It was human, definitely, not Pokémon, but it felt warm and sincere, not like the whispers he had heard from the Griseous Orb – the only other voice he could compare it to.

" _Nod two times and signal with your ears if you do_."

Shrew did as ordered, trying not to look around him, as he didn't want Pachirisu to see anything odd. Focused on his ranting, Pachirisu had fortunately loosened his grip a bit.

" _Good. Shrew, I know you're in a situation where you'd have every reason to mistrust me, but I promise you, I'm on your side. Whatever you do, you must not let Pachirisu draw a symbol on the ground using blood drawn from both a human and a Pokémon – he will no doubt try to do it soon. Do you understand?"_

Shrew nodded again.

"So you agree!" Pachirisu kept ranting, Shrew catching only every other word. "Then you should see why I am doing this! After all the injustices I have suffered-"

" _He will try to draw blood from Bagon. I know it will pain you to do this, but let him – he won't kill her, but will most likely try to go for Krane's blood next. Stop him before that_."

"-but soon there will be nothing left of you all!" Pachirisu ended boisterously. "I'll take the human with me to unlock the key to the Griseous Orb and make way for my master's glorious return!"

"Suck my tail!" Shrew just said, earning a death glare from Pachirisu. "I'm focused on just one thing: getting me and the other Pokémon out. You're standing in my way, we have a problem!"

"I suppose so," Pachirisu whispered.

Shrew cringed, Quill gasped, Krane yelled and Bagon screamed as Pachirisu sank his teeth into Bagon's shoulder, making a deep wound that instantly started dripping blood on the floor. Just as the voice had predicted, Pachirisu let go of Bagon and let her drop on the floor before lunging at Krane.

Shrew saw Pachirisu charging energy with his cheeks, about to shock Krane, but Shrew jumped on him and absorbed the attack as if it was air.

"A ground-type, huh?" Pachirisu just said as the two struggled on the floor. "I guess I'll just do this the old-fashioned way, then!"

Shrew squealed in pain as Pachirisu managed to whack him in the eye with his tail, then bite him in the stomach, though the wound was not nearly as bad as Bagon's. Pachirisu jumped off Shrew and towards Krane. Quill dragged Bagon to safety, leaving a long blood trail behind.

Much as he tried, Shrew did not recover fast enough to prevent what happened – Pachirisu bit Krane in the leg. Krane screamed and tried to kick him away, but Pachirisu jumped out of the way and instead jumped up and whacked Krane with his tail, knocking him off the chair. Blood dripped from Krane's wound and on the floor, dangerously close to the puddles of Shrew's and Bagon's blood.

Shrew attempted to charge at Pachirisu one more time, but was too slow and was only whacked with a tail to the back of the room. His vision blurred from the impact, Shrew watched helplessly as Pachirisu combined the blood spills and started drawing something with the blood, ignoring Krane, who was crawling away from Pachirisu and towards Shrew.

" _It's okay_ ," the voice said again. " _But you have to get out now. Take Quill, Bagon and Krane with you and run – the coast is clear, but it won't be for long!"_

Pachirisu finished drawing whatever symbol he was trying to create, causing sparkling in the air above the symbol. And just like that, a sudden vortex appeared in the air, like a smaller version of the one he had seen in the lower floor, surrounded by the creepy letter Pokémon. The vortex grew bigger as Pachirisu cackled maniacally and watched it.

Shrew gestured at Quill, Bagon and Krane, who got the hint and started running after him, Bagon holding her shoulder and grimacing as she ran, but otherwise seeming okay. The group ran out of the room, Shrew leading the way and the others blindly following him as Shrew took several turns and ran past many doors and corridors before finally finding the one he was looking for. All four of them ran into the room and Krane locked the door behind him.

The room turned out to be a laboratory, everything in pristine shape and untouched.

"Hhh..." Krane panted. "How did you... know where... to find this lab?"

"A voice in my head told me," Shrew said bluntly as he walked over to Bagon. "Are you okay?"

"It'll heal," Bagon grunted. "Couldn't believe Pachirisu did that to me! We'd known each other for, like, almost a day. That traitorous bastard – what was he talking about anyway? I didn't get even half of that!"

"Can't say I did either," Shrew muttered. "Krane!" he said suddenly, and Krane flinched. "Fix Bagon's shoulder up, will you? And then tell us what just happened over there?"

Shrew realized something. He looked around the room, shaking is head wildly in every direction, but there was no one besides them around.

"Or maybe _you_ could tell us, mystery voice? !" Shrew said as loudly as he dared, not wanting to alert Pachirisu. "Are you watching us?"

" _Yes_."

Shrew flinched and shuddered – he could never get used to that.

"Well?"

" _There's fairly little time, and I don't know if you'd believe me anyway_. _I believe Pachirisu is working with the same being who sent all these monsters here, and it opened a portal to the place where they came from: the Distortion World_."

"Distortion World?" Shrew repeated, looking at the others in the room.

Quill and Bagon seemed as clueless as Shrew was. Krane's interest was piqued and he lifted his head up after successfully bandaging Bagon's wound. However, before Shrew could ask him anything, he remembered something.

"Those audio logs!" he told Quill. "Do you remember anything about them? The ones made about the Griseous Orb!"

"Uh... yes," Quill said. "Well, something. They mentioned a 'Giratina', and I've heard that name before, I'm sure of it! It's just that... I haven't heard anything _good_ about it. The administrator mentioned legends about it many times. But I didn't think that much of it."

"Arceus forgive us," Krane muttered, brushing his fingers across his lips and staring into emptiness. "Did they... they actually did it."

"Did what?" Shrew asked.

"The teleportation experiments here," Krane said feverishly, pacing around the room and talking to himself more than the others. "I heard rumors, but I never thought – those idiots! They actually opened a dimensional rift! That's where all those monsters came from! And any minute now, this floor will be filled with glitch Pokémon!"

"I think we saw those things," Bagon mumbled, fumbling around with her bandage. "You sure you put this thing right?" she asked Krane. "I _don't_ want to see those things again, especially not while wounded!"

"And the Griseous Orb!" Krane rambled on. "They actually thought... why did we even accept that? Those asinine, callous, unforgivable... f**ks!"

"Thought what?" Shrew, Quill and Bagon asked simultaneously, but Krane just rambled incoherently, occasionally kicking a chair.

" _I'll explain_ ," the voice said. " _But first you have to close that portal before it gets bigger and consumes this entire facility."_

"How? !" Shrew squealed, Quill and Bagon watching him curiously as Krane paced around the room and rambled on.

" _That's the most difficult part – but you're the only one who can! We'll wait for a while for Pachirisu and whatever he brings through the portal to go away, then I'll guide you safely to it. Shrew... you have to go through it_."

"NO!" Shrew protested. "I don't care what they said in those logs or what those scientists did to me – I will not do their bidding!"

" _You will not do it to them, but for all of us, all Pokémon worldwide, especially Quill... and yourself. You will not be alone – I'll guide you through the process the entire time._ "

"Like you're doing now?" Shrew asked glibly. "You can't actually be there in person with me? Just exactly who are you anyway?"

" _A human. And your friend. And I'm sorry, but my presence is required elsewhere._ "

"If you're human, how can you do that thing you're doing now?" Shrew wondered.

" _Is that the most important thing now?_ "

Shrew clenched his teeth. The voice had a point, but still... why did it have to be this way?

"Shrew?" Quill asked.

Shrew sighed.

"Krane, get working on Quill," Shrew ordered. "Bagon, I need you to keep watch here in case something happens. I know it' s a lot to ask, but-"

"No, I got it," Bagon said. "If those things get here and do something to the human, none of us will be cured. And I guess I kind of owe Quill for pulling me out of there, too."

Shrew patted the dragon-type on the shoulder. He then turned to look at Quill. Arceus, he wanted to survive this. To come back to find that Quill was fine and that there was a way to escape. Someone like her didn't deserve a fate like this.

"...I have to go out for a while," Shrew said, his mouth feeling dry and the words barely getting out of his throat. "But I'll be back – if it'll last more than... hey, voice! How long will I take?"

" _I do not know, but don't expect to be here in a matter of minutes. We're talking at least several hours here_."

Shrew sighed again. "If I'm not here in two hours, start looking for the remaining Pokémon in this floor – if we're lucky, Pachirisu and whatever else came out of that portal went searching for the Griseous Orb, so it should be clear again. If I take more than three hours, take all the Pokémon with a pulse and _get them and yourselves out of here_! Understood?"

Quill stared at Shrew. "Where are you going, then?"

"Just heading out for a spin," Shrew hemmed. "Don't worry about me – I have a pl... well, the voice in my head has a plan."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Quill asked. "This whole voice business just doesn't make sense to me – didn't the Griseous Orb do this to you before?"

"This is different," Shrew insisted. "I'm just going to make sure no more monsters get through any portals or whatnot. I... I don't even know what's going on. Krane, if you know better, explain the situation to her. I'm off."

Quill protested weakly, but couldn't do much as Krane prepared to run tests on her, taking her to another area of the lab. Though Shrew watched this in concern, he shook the feeling of dread off and headed for the door. Bagon opened it for him, and as Shrew looked back, waved her tiny paw at him one last time before closing the door and locking it again.

The voice gave Shrew guidance as he ran at breathtaking speed across the halls, occasionally taking a shortcut through large holes in the walls. Whatever creature had caused them, Shrew wanted nothing to do with it. He dashed through labs, offices and storage rooms through more holes and conveniently opened doors, finally making his way back to the office they had been in before.

The portal was now a glowing, dark purple spinning vortex placed hovering vertically in the air. The office had been torn apart by whatever had come through it, everything wooden now just a pile of splinters while most papers had been shredded and large pieces of the walls and ceiling had been either blown apart or at least singed.

Very close to the portal, Shrew noticed something on the floor that wasn't there before – a hi-tech breathing apparatus built exactly for a Pokémon his size. Shrew remembered that they had been mentioned on the logs, so without having to be told, Shrew put the rebreather on and faced the portal.

" _Go now. You can do it, Shrew! It'll be all right – we'll meet on the other side! Go!_ "

Chanting the words he had heard from the audio logs to himself and projecting the image of Quill to his head, Shrew took a deep breath and jumped into the vortex.

**~o~O~o~**

Wes, Rosa, Nate, Jasmine, Bianca, Cal, Matthews and the frightened scientist had locked themselves up in a computer room.

Seated in one of the chairs, Wes was slowly recovering from his shock treatment, though Bianca's constant questions about his health and Jasmine attempting to cheer him up with stories about how she got her Steelix probably hindered it more than helped. About half and hour had passed since the crew rescued Nate, and while Team Rocket's sounds were heard from the vicinity, they hadn't even tried to break into the room, but had apparently fled for unknown reasons.

"...so I found myself bored with rock-types," Jasmine finished a long speech, inhaled and continued on: "Taking a year off from my gym leader duties was the only thing I could do – I was such a wreck at that point. One day, I managed to make Onix evolve after finding this weird item on the ground. I wanted to tests its strength and increase my own, so I signed up into this unit. Hearing that I was a gym leader and very good with tech, they took me in immediately, though if they had known how socially incompetent I was, they would have probably kicked me out _way_ before basic training even started. Anyway..."

Wes was lucid enough to realize that he had never heard Jasmine talk that much during the... sheesh, it had only been a few hours since they arrived, hadn't it? How much was it anyway, six? Seven? But it already felt like he had been at Navel Rock for a week.

"Wow," Wes groaned. "Quite a life you'd had, Jas. Don't worry about the social part, though," he added with a grin. "People suck anyway, so the only one you have to prove anything to is yourself."

"Um... thanks," Jasmine said. "But I honestly wish I could be more like you."

"If you'd known me before, you wouldn't," Wes said. "The confidence will come, Jas – your accomplishments speak for themselves. Maybe it won't happen soon, or maybe it will – but you have to make that happen, or else what's the point?"

"Isn't that inspirational of you," Bianca remarked after she finished listening on Wes' heart. "Well, your heart rate seems to have returned to normal and I treated the worst burns. Normally I'd say you'd have to stay in bed for about a day... but considering we have no beds here and everything's constantly trying to kill us, I guess I have to let you go."

Wes rolled his eyes at Bianca and slowly pulled himself off the chair and on his feet. Though it still hurt in the places Domino had shocked him and he hadn't quite regained his balance yet, Wes felt about as one could, considering his situation. Looking over at Nate, who Bianca had treated first and whom Rosa was now tending to, Wes believed it could be a lot worse. Apparently Domino hadn't had tortured him for long and didn't even use her electricity, but had applied pretty much every other type of pain there was.

"...the orb," Nate muttered after Rosa had forced him to down the contents of her water bottle. "...the Griseous Orb! Do you have it? Did you find it?"

Cal, who had picked up the Griseous Orb, showed it to Nate. Though it wasn't glowing at the moment, it was still a sight to behold as the light coming from the ceiling lamps reflected from its golden surface. Nate's jaw dropped when he saw it.

"Then... our mission is complete," he grunted. "We can... get back home. How's everyone else?"

"Two from our team are down," Matthews said, speaking out loud properly for the first time, having stood up without anyone noticing. "And I heard one from this team was KIA and another turned traitor."

"Hey, they still haven't confirmed that!" Bianca argued. "Amarillo, I mean, Yellow, I guess, can still... I mean, maybe it was a misunderstanding..."

"Well, Yellow hasn't leaked our movements to Team Rocket, that's for sure," Wes pondered, only now having time to actually think about the issue. "So... is there some third party that's also in on this?"

"You!" Nate grunted suddenly, moving to face Wes. Nate couldn't see out of his other eye and his face had been quite bloodied and battered, but he could still muster up a smile. "You're the one I have to thank for saving me... with that idiotic plan."

"We tried to tell him that," Rosa said, though she smiled as well. "He could have gotten killed – but damn, it paid off in the end."

"Yeah," Nate said, "Th-"

"Nate, save your strength, _I'll_ do the talking!" Rosa hushed. "Wes, thank you. For both of us. I mean, when you first came on board the sub, I thought you were-"

"You were probably right," Wes said and waved the compliment away. "It's okay. At least now we can report to Hilda."

Wes turned on his Xtransceiver and contacted Hilda. Soon enough, she responded, sounding okay, but extremely tired:

" _Hilda here. What's your_..." she stopped to yawn. " _...status_."

"I think we can forget the formalities," Wes said cheekily. "We're all right down here, but what about you?"

" _Just tired. And bored. You guys get to have all the fun._ "

"Kind of subjective, that," Wes said with a cringe. "Anyway, not only do we have the Griseous Orb now, but guess who we found in the, uh, vicinity. It's Nate and, um... Matthews! I wouldn't say they're okay, but they're alive and in one piece."

Wes heard Hilda exhale deep. " _Fantastic. Sorry, I wish I could be more excited now, but we have to move this along. Only about three hours left until this place is bombed to bits."_

"I remember," Wes snapped – in truth, it came and went. Every time he tried to focus on something, he was forced to remember that their deadline was at 5 AM.

_And for Kami's sake, it's only been about four hours? It felt like an eternity._

"I was hoping you'd contact Marshal, or Lance directly," Wes said quickly. "Buy more time."

" _I already did that_ ," Hilda said in anguished voice. " _They said they had to talk it over during an emergency meeting_."

"That never means anything good," Wes muttered. "Right, there's still some Team Rocket between us, including this one basketcase. She looks all short and harmless, but for the sake of all that is good and beautiful, do _not_ let her get close to you. Someone called Domino. Oh, and a frickin' skeleton monster who can probably destroy you just by being close by."

"... _are you making that up, Wes_?"

"I wish," Wes grumbled. "Not only that, but there's three badly wounded people here and I almost got electrocuted, so I think we're gonna need backup."

" _Backup? There's only two of us_!"

"Yeah, I know," Wes said. "I wouldn't be asking otherwise, but we can't get to the rendezvous point in that time limit... scratch that, I don't know if we'll make it at all."

" _Alright then, Wes_ ," Hilda said flatly, her breathing audible even to the other end. " _I guess it'll have to be me, then. Hilbert can stay with Kaminko_."

"Wha... can't you both come?" Wes wondered. "I know you're good, but I don't want you to go through all that alone. Just leave that guy waiting!"

" _If he dies, the mission fails. And besides, I'm not sure how much help Hilbert can be right now_."

"Is he hurt?"

" _He's sleeping. Hil, get up! Go check up the upper entrance again, try to see if there's anyone around. Wes, I'm coming. You try to come and meet me halfway though... say at the tram station on this side?_ "

"Okay, but watch yourself!" Wes said and closed his Xtransceiver.

Before Wes could explain his plan to the others, he heard a startled scream. Bianca had finished checking up on Matthews again before wandering about the room in search of something. Wes walked over to her, cringing as he saw what Bianca had been startled by: the bodies five scientists had been hidden behind some crates. Getting over her shock, Bianca leaned close to them and investigated.

"This is... odd," she said, oddly un-cheerfully. "They... they've also been shot by the stunning weapons... the ones we use."

"Well, Team Rocket took your Pokémon, right?" Rosa asked Nate. "Did they take your weapons as well and then used them against civilians?"

Nate didn't answer – instead, he exhaled and looked away from a confused Rosa. Matthews, who had observed the scene from a corner, burst into laughter while the wounded scientists who had been quiet so far started rambling in fear.

"Oh no," he sputtered. "It was... it was true! You aren't here to rescue us! You were told to silence us all! To eliminate all witnesses!"

"Of course we weren't!" Rosa argued and turned to look at Nate. "Tell him that we weren't!"

Nate closed his good eye while Matthews laughed even louder, finally stepping away from the corner.

"They really don't know?" he asked Nate. "I thought you said the Alpha team already knew about all this!"

"All _what_?" Rosa asked Nate, ignoring Matthews.

Nate sighed and opened his eye again – only it was damp and red this time.

"We... we got..." Nate gulped and closed his eyes again, cringing as he spoke. "We got orders from high command. As soon as we had managed to get in, Lance c-contacted me," he said in trembling voice. "He said we shouldn't leave any witnesses behind. I argued against it... but he told me that if word got out what happened here, there would be riots in the streets... panic... he told me that y-you guys already knew and had me tell that to the others as well..."

Bianca covered her mouth with her hands, Jasmine clenched her fists and Rosa stared at Nate in absolute disbelief. Cal didn't seem too surprised – and neither was Wes. He had anticipated this ever since he got the mysterious call. Even sooner – this wouldn't the first time the Committee would do something like this. But he had no idea others knew already.

"Well we didn't know!" Rosa yelled as she shook Nate roughly. "Nobody told us anything! And we would have refused anyway! T-tell me you refused... please!"

"That pile of bodies says different," Cal said evenly as he lit a yet another cigarette – Wes must have seen him smoke ten of those already.

"Oh, don't worry, Rosa, he did," Matthews smirked. "Fortunately the rest of us talked some sense into him. We didn't have to like it – not that it stopped some – but all of us, including him, agreed in the end: a couple of dozens worth of people versus potentially hundreds of thousand lost in ensuing riots, maybe even millions if there's a civil war."

"Over this?" Wes huffed. "People are apathetic enough as it is – sure, I'm not saying there wouldn't be riots, but sheesh, you'll go pretty far to justify your actions, huh?"

Matthews ignored Wes, instead preferring to continue ranting:

"Even if _some_ of you don't know this," he said, "one of you has to. Don't tell me Lance never contacted you at any point during all this?"

"Rosa," Jasmine said, her voice trembling a little, "didn't Hilda talk with Lance back in the lobby?"

"Well, yeah, but," Rosa muttered. "I mean... even then, _she_ wouldn't do anything like that, and she certainly would have told us."

"It doesn't really matter," Matthews muttered. "You know now, and that's the gist of it... we just have to deal with this as we go!"

Suddenly, without warning, Matthews pulled something sharp off his belt and threw it towards the frightened scientist. The throwing knife floored the scientist immediately, and there was no reason to check for any vitals.

Wes was the first to react as he grabbed Matthews by his collar and slammed him against a cupboard. Matthews didn't shout or even act surprised at this – he just glared at Wes almost insanely.

"Figured you'd be next?" Matthews asked. "We can't have outsiders knowing about this – I don't care what did for Nate or any of us. The orders say you die, and we will obey!"

Cal had his energy weapon raised, but hesitated to pull the trigger when Wes was so close. Matthews managed to pull another throwing knife and brought it close to Wes, but Wes managed to grab his arm and twist his arm back towards him. The extended knife hit Matthews square in the throat, and soon he collapsed on the floor just like the scientist had.

There was a ghostly silence as Wes, Rosa, Nate, Cal, Jasmine and Bianca stared at Matthews' body, Wes shaking all over.

"Nate," he asked quietly, "do you agree with him?"

"...no," Nate mumbled. "I... I didn't want to do it in the first place..."

"You were in command!" Rosa yelled and didn't hesitate to slap Nate across the face, ignoring his injuries. "How were you _forced_ to do anything? !"

"The others never respected me," Nate mumbled, tears running down from his good eye. "I couldn't control them! I had no choice in the matter, so I went along with it. We thought Cal and Bianca had been lost already, so we were desperate – and Team Rocket was right on our coattails, along with something even worse."

"Idiot!" Rosa seethed and was about to slap Nate again, but Bianca brought her arm down.

"Enough!" she cried out. "We can deal with this later – now we have less than three hours to get out of here! We have to go meet Hilda!"

"Bianca's right," Wes said as he averted his gaze from Matthews. "We might take a while, so we should go as soon as possible. And on top of Team Rocket and those 'glitches', we have to deal with this 'Yellow'... though just suddenly running into her isn't very like-"

In a snap, Yellow teleported in the middle of the computer room, prompting more surprised screams from Bianca and especially Wes, who almost blacked out again. Yellow looked around her, spotted Wes and didn't waste time walking towards him.

"We have to hurry," Yellow said. "I know it's still a few hours until the deadline, but we might not make it before that. This building might collapse in less than an hour!"

"Hold it!" Rosa shouted. "Hilda told us that you've spied on us. Did you just... use those 'psychic powers' Hilda mentioned?"

"She's not a spy," Cal said.

Everyone turned to look at him, then back at Yellow, who just stood in the middle of everyone calmly. Even though everyone in the room towered over her, no one dared to even try to attack her.

"Uh... Cal?" Wes asked. "Come again?"

"Yeah, sorry, I lied before," Cal said quickly. "I couldn't speak freely until it was necessary. I can vouch for her, and you all can vouch for me, I'm sure."

"We infiltrated your unit because we had to," Yellow explained. "We can't let anyone, Team Rocket _or_ you superiors, get their hands on the Griseous Orb. I'm sorry for the deception, but by now, I'm sure you all know that your superiors haven't been entirely honest with you, either."

Wes looked at Yellow apprehensively.

"How do we know you're not lying?" Wes asked. "This is a trap, isn't it?"

Yellow sighed, and before Wes could stop it, she marched up to him, closed her eyes and placed her hand on his head. Rosa raised her blaster, but Cal motioned her to stand down.

A second later, Yellow pulled her hand away while Wes collapsed on his knees, hands on the floor, shaking and panting.

"Wes?" Jasmine asked. "Is everything-?"

"Yes," Wes panted, eyes wide and face covered in sweat. "Yes, I'm fine, and... she's telling the truth. For now, anyway."

Rosa, Bianca and Jasmine glanced at each other warily while Nate, too weak to resist, just stared at Yellow.

"Good," Yellow said and crossed her arms as she spoke confidently and quickly. "Those 'glitch' monsters are coming here through portals. There's one in the lowest floor of this building, and it's rapidly growing, weakening this place's structural integrity. Worse yet, another portal was just opened not too long ago at the other end of the complex. That's why this place is falling apart, which is also why the Rockets left."

"To fix all this," Cal said, "someone has to go through a portal and to the other side, the Distortion World, and close the portal, then hurry back before they get stuck there."

Cal was staring at Wes the whole time, as was Yellow. One by one, the others turned to look at him as well, while Wes sputtered in disbelief.

"M-me?" he squeaked. "I... no! Why the hell me?"

"I can't do it on my own," Yellow said. "I'll go with you, but you're the only one here with a team of six Pokémon, enough experience and a condition good enough to get there and out in one piece. And I can only take one with me."

"Why? !" Wes almost shouted.

"Yellow can open a weak, temporary portal," Cal explained, him and Yellow in some bizarre sync. "Only one person can go through, though she's small enough to go with you and you can still count as one person as far as that's concerned. Besides, you can't breathe there, so Yellow has to create a field that can only fit two people anyways."

"Well, that's great, why don't _you_ go then, Cal? !" Wes snapped. "You're friends with this one, aren't you? You two take care of that while I lead the others to safety."

"Someone has to take care of the Griseous Orb," Yellow said. "Not only does he have only one Pokémon, but he isn't exactly qualified for these situations."

"And I am? !" Wes wondered.

"This'll be a first to you," Yellow smiled, "but I was able to read you before. I know you can do it, even if you don't – you're meant to do something great."

Wes sighed. "I only came here to get paid," he lamented. "Not to be ' _great_ '."

"Please," Yellow said. "I can't force you to do it. This has to be voluntary."

"Even if we weren't close to collapsing," Cal said, "there's no way we can get this thing done before the time limit. Once you're done with that, you'll come out from the other end of this facility – which means there'll be time to actually save some hostages – unless Nate here feels differently," he added scathingly.

Nate groaned. "I don't," he muttered.

Wes bit his lip and looked at Yellow. There was no reason to doubt her – or him, possibly. Wes didn't know how, but through some method, Yellow had shared her own thoughts, feelings and memories with him. Wes couldn't get a clear picture of them, but knew enough that she wouldn't back down no matter what.

_And how many people can say they've visited another dimension?_

_Well, darn_.

Wes nodded quickly. "Okay, fine. I'm game. What do we do?"

"You don't have to do anything yet except carry something for me," Yellow said and smiled reassuringly. "Leave it to me. First, we'll need some of the explosives."

Cal opened the surprisingly large bag he had hefted around and pulled a smaller bag out of it, giving it to Wes for holding. Cal then looked at Nate, wordlessly managing to make him realize what he was after, and Nate gave a small case that the Rockets hadn't bothered taking from him.

"The detonators are there," Nate mumbled. "Well, half of them... Matthews has the other case."

"Half is all they need," Cal explained. "We might still have to use the other half."

Yellow let out her Pokémon, the Furret. Scratching it behind the ear, she talked to it softly:

"I'm sorry I have to do this. But we need your help."

Furret just nodded and happily gave one of its paws for Yellow to hold. Yellow pulled a small knife from her belt and made a slight cut in Furret's hand, and the Furret helpfully dripped some of its blood on the floor. Wes was about to ask about it, but Yellow then hovered her hands above the cut on Furret's paw. What followed was a mystical glow, and just like that, the cut was completely healed.

"Thank you," Yellow told Furret and returned it, then pocketed the Poké Ball. "After this, I'll take you back to Johto, I promise."

Everyone just stared in complete bewilderment when Yellow used the knife on her own hand next – and without hesitation, made a small cut. Shaking her hand a bit, Yellow let several drops of her blood fall on the floor on top of Furret's blood. When she was done, she didn't heal her hand like Furret did, but instead put a band-aid on the wound and wrapped a bandage around her hand.

"You need to leave now," Yellow told the others in the room. "Cal and Jasmine, I'd like you to lead the way. Bianca can come next, then Rosa and Nate – she probably has to help Nate walk."

"Understood," Cal said, the two talking coldly professionally. "Be careful."

"We will," Yellow said.

The others still hadn't realized what was going on, but when Cal opened the door and checked his surroundings, Rosa was the first to recover, swinging Nate's hand over her shoulder and helping him walk to the door. Bianca and Jasmine followed, both waving at Wes.

"We'll meet again, I promise!" Bianca said.

"...good luck," Jasmine whispered.

Wes could just gulp and nod at both of them before eventually snapping out of it and giving Jasmine the Xtransceiver he got from Hilda, figuring it wouldn't be of much use in an alternate dimension. Soon enough, the unit had walked away and Wes stayed at Yellow's side, watching her use the combined blood to draw a strange symbol on the floor. Then, she closed her eyes and hovered her hands above the symbol for a while. Finally, she pushed the palms of her hands together.

A burst of electricity erupted from Yellow's hands and collided with the symbol, creating a small, crackling purple vortex into the air. It floated vertically above the symbol, ready to suck whatever walked through it into a weird bizarro dimension.

_Can I still back down?_

Yellow took the explosives bag from Wes and swung them over her shoulder.

"One more thing," she said, "like I said before, we need to go two together, as the portal will only take one person at a time. So, I need you to... kneel."

Wes sighed, but understood. He knelt and allowed Yellow to climb on his back. This bothered him surprisingly little, as she was very light, but something about the situation made Wes deeply uncomfortable.

"Now go!" Yellow shouted. "It'll only stay open for a little while. It's okay – nothing will happen to you as long as you stay close to me!"

Staring at the vortex, Wes' heart raced. Seeing the portal crackle and start slowly shrinking, Wes took a deep breath and ran straight through it just as it closed behind him, suddenly feeling himself pulled into the air and seeing nothing but a bright flash of light.

**~o~O~o~**

When Wes opened his eyes again, he had to blink several times before he concluded that he wasn't dreaming.

The first thing he deduced that he was standing on a rust-colored island of landmass that seemingly floated in the 'air', or whatever the Distortion World was. The 'sky' above and around them was dark blue, and as Wes looked down, he soon regretted it as he saw the island floating well an enormous whirlpool made of purple clouds.

There were similar islands above and below them, but nothing made sense in the way Wes understood the word. Some islands were, from their perspective, upside down, with oddly shaped trees growing 'down' from them, while others seemed to be flipped vertically. On an island not too far from their location, a waterfall was crashing up, connecting to another island.

Basically, the whole dark world around them looked like one of the paintings Wes had stolen once. What was the name of the guy who made it? D.C. Douglas?

Wes only half-realized that Yellow had let go of him and had dropped down next to him.

"We have to be close to each other at all times," Yellow warned. "I'm projecting a protective field around us, but if you wander away from it, you'll suffocate – they say humans can't breathe here. I'm not about to test that theory."

"Test... you haven't been here before?" Wes gasped, looking at the bizarre things all around him.

"As far as we know, we're the first human beings here," Yellow muttered. "I know it's a lot to take in-"

" _YOU THINK? !_ "

"-but we have to keep moving," Yellow finished calmly. "Time is said to flow differently here, but now that two portals have been opened, that may no longer be the case."

Wes immediately started walking as Yellow did so, walking besides her at all times, their arms almost touching as they walked – Wes soon realized that they were walking on a 'wall' of land, but hadn't noticed any shifts in gravity or even perspective – everything looked just as messed up wherever he looked.

"Yellow..." Wes whispered as he stared around him, trying to make sense of it all while still making sure to stay close to Yellow, who seemed to know where she was going. "...I know we're in the Distortion World, but... _where_ is the Distortion World? _What_ is the Distortion World?"

"A borderworld ruled by Giratina which crosses through the infinite dimensions as far as I understand," Yellow said, keeping her eyes on the path. "I only know of papers written by scholars in Sinnoh, the only known place where a portal has existed."

"Oh..."

That hadn't answered Wes' question. But he had another one in mind which he wasn't sure how to phrase.

"Um, Yellow," he said carefully. "It's kinda funny... when I first saw you, I wasn't sure if you were a boy or a girl. Weird, huh? I mean, I know it's kind o' personal, but, uh, I still don't really know... of course, if you don't want to tell me..."

Yellow glanced at Wes over her shoulder, though she was fortunately smiling.

"I was born a girl," Yellow explained, "but I never really felt like one. I dressed as a boy initially as a disguise, but I found myself doing it just because I liked it. But I never really considered myself a man either. So, I guess I don't really identify as either."

"Oh, that's interesting," Wes remarked. "I never knew people like that – you must have lived quite a life if you had to disguise yourself, though."

"It's a long story," Yellow mused. "But to give you the cliff notes, I'm not just here to help you save the hostages and get the Griseous Orb – I also want to find out what happened to the one who helped me on my path, a trainer unlike any other – the former Champion of Kanto and Johto."

"Red," Wes muttered.

"Yes," Yellow said quietly. "I enjoy talking to you, Wes."

"Oh... well, I-"

"But if you don't mind, please be quiet for a while – I have to guide someone here."

Wes wondered what that meant, but didn't say a word – even with his head full of questions and this person leading him to a dangerous situation, he felt compelled to respect their wishes. Yellow closed their eyes and placed their fingers on their forehead.

**~o~O~o~**

_**In a different part of the Distortion World...** _

As per his latest instruction, Shrew kept running on a narrow piece of land with a seemingly infinite length. Coming to the Distortion World was a shock at first, until Shrew realized he had seen the place before – in dreamlike hallucinations that he barely remembered, but still. He tried not look down at the infinitely spinning whirlpools or even pay attention to his surroundings. The Distortion World seemed to be completely void of life at the moment, Shrew only hearing the sounds of his footsteps as he ran.

Finally, after a long pause, he heard the voice in his head again – as odd as it felt, it started to be almost comforting:

" _Sorry for the delay Shrew. You should be meeting me any moment now. Don't be alarmed, though: I brought someone else with me._ "

Shrew stopped running and stood on its hind legs, sniffing the air and trying to see where these mysterious people were. But even though the 'road' he walked on stretched as far as Shrew could see, the humans were nowhere in sight.

" _You should be right next to me now – I can sense you. Are you hiding somewhere_?"

Shrew looked around him, but still no one in sight – however, he could hear the faint sound of footsteps close by. It almost sounded like they were coming from beneath his feet...

Shrew finally looked down – there were island below him too, some smaller ones visibly having surfaces on both sides, with trees and large rocks clearly visible. Taking a deep breath, Shrew slowly inched himself over the edge of the strip of land he was on.

Shrew's eyes were wide when he didn't fall off the edge, but instead found himself suddenly on the other side of landmass he was on, now seeing two humans, a small blonde one and a... large one who was either blonde or had light brown hair, Shrew couldn't tell. Apparently the floating 'islands' of land had some sort of gravity... the whole thing made Shrew's head hurt.

"You made it!" the smaller human praised Shrew, who immediately recognized the voice – it was his mysterious benefactor. "I'm proud of you, Shrew. I'm Yellow, and this is Wes – I'll be needing both of your help to close that portal."

"How does that Sandshrew survive here?" the larger human, 'Wes', wondered. "Is a rebreather really all you need?"

"No," 'Yellow' said. "This Sandshrew has had experiments done to it with the exact purpose of sending it to the Distortion World – presumably to deliver the Griseous Orb and strike some kind of 'deal' with the beast of the Distortion World."

Getting a better look of the 'Wes' human, Shrew's eyes narrowed and he extended his claws involuntarily – he had seen this human before: in the tram tunnel. He was fighting Team Rocket, and was the first to charge at the Griseous Orb once Shrew had tossed it.

"Calm down, Shrew," Yellow said, immediately noticing Shrew's distress. "Wes, do you remember this Pokémon?"

Wes looked down at the little ground-type – Shrew felt the urge to sink his claws into his legs. Finally, Wes nodded before turning to Yellow.

"Oh, right," he said, smiling obnoxiously, "he's the one who was carrying the orb. We wouldn't have gotten it without you, little guy – thanks!"

"I bet it's a real comfort for every Pokémon who got killed because of that," Shrew hissed.

But Wes just stared at the little Pokémon – without a translating device, all he heard were hisses, squeaks and squawks. He looked at Yellow in confusion, while Yellow just smiled.

"You can trust him," Yellow assured Shrew. "I know it will take a while, but you're in this together. Unfortunately, he can't understand you."

"Wait – _you_ can? !" Wes yelled, pointing at Yellow. "That's... I mean, I would give my left hand for that kind of ability! Holy crap, what _can't_ you do with your powers?"

"You can really understand me?" Shrew asked – the 'Yellow' human wasn't wearing a translator device either.

"Of course," Yellow smiled at Shrew, then turned to Wes. "There are limitations, just like with everything else. I can't predict what's going to happen, even though some psychics can, and there are limitations to my teleporting ability. That, and I can't keep using my powers infinitely – they use up quite a bit of my energy."

Shrew looked at the human – Yellow was smiling, but fairly pale as well. Was it natural for them, or was using those powers taking a toll? Shrew knew that Pokémon with special powers needed to recharge their energy supplies more often than Pokémon using physical attacks, though the latter made up for it by placing themselves in greater risk when attacking.

Wes seemed to be thinking the same, too.

"You OK?" he asked Yellow. "I wish I had the common sense to bring like a water bottle or even a Ragecandybar in here, but no, this would only take a few hours, they said."

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks," Yellow assured. "But we should keep moving."

Shrew and Wes glanced at each other warily, but followed Yellow's lead anyway.

The rest of the trip passed in almost complete silence, Yellow occasionally giving the two instructions. Wes made sure to walk close to Yellow – to stay in the confines of the energy shield, no doubt.

 _So if he tries something, all I have to do is give him a little push_.

As they came across one of the strange waterfalls that seemed to flow upwards that could also be seen in a distance, Yellow explained how to get past it by merely walking into it. And indeed, they grabbed Shrew under their arm, and together with Wes, walked directly into the waterfall. The group was hurled up on the upper island the waterfall connected to, mostly soaked but more concerned about the physical impossibility of what had just happened.

But there was little time to question it, so as Yellow let Shrew down, the trio kept walking and walking until Yellow finally stopped. And Shrew immediately saw why:

It was a huge ball of light, probably over fifty feet in both height and diameter, with hundreds of those little, letter-shaped Pokémon orbiting it. Every once in a while, they emitted a strange, high-pitched sound as if they were all talking in unison:

" _Uuuuuuunoooooown_ ~ _"._

"We found it," Yellow said. "Now we have to break through their defenses. Those Pokémon there are Unown. They're extremely weak individually, but the more of them gather in the same place, the more psychic energy they can use. However, I'm fairly sure they're using it all to keep the portal steady."

" _That's_ a portal? !" Wes exclaimed – Shrew wondered why he kept being surprised by these things. "So... all those things we saw earlier, like that not-Kabutops... they came through _this_?"

"Yes," Yellow said as she observed the portal. "It was most likely created by accident by the scientists and those glitch Pokémon took advantage of its size and power by pouring through in search of the Griseous Orb. They're not the finest of minions, however, and their only tactic seems to be cleansing the place of all life before going to look for the artifact."

"So... can something even worse come through the portal?" Wes asked, gulping nervously.

"Not through _this_ portal," Yellow said, sounding almost fascinated by it. "It's impressive, but far more energy is needed – according to the theories I've read, the mass of the Pokémon coming through is decisive. Furthermore, portals don't usually last very long, which is why the Unown need to hold it together."

"There's a similar one on the other side, too," Shrew said quietly.

Wes just looked confused, but Yellow nodded. "Yes, I thought so, too. Now that so many of them have gotten through, I'm afraid we'll be seeing more of these in the coming months. Smaller than this, most likely, but still..."

"OK, I get it, portals bad," Wes babbled. "But if the Unown are protecting it, how are we going to break through if we can't get past our own shield?"

"Leave it to me," Yellow said. "I can surround this whole area within a hundred feet of myself in a shield, but I can only hold it steady for five minutes."

Wes looked like he was about to argue, but Yellow determinedly put the explosives bag down on the 'ground' (or whatever it was) and took the bomb out – to Shrew, it only looked like a box with wires and crap coming out of it. For a split second, Shrew thought he saw something else in the bag, but Yellow quickly closed it again and swung it over their shoulder.

"Come over here, Shrew," Yellow said.

Shrew obeyed, not quite sure why, while Wes stood next to Yellow, looking dumbfounded. Yellow then opened a small metal case that contained more strange wire things.

"I know this looks complicated," Yellow said calmly, "but this thing was set before the team left, so the rest is very easy to do – but because we don't have much time anyway..."

Yellow put their hand on Shrew's head, and within a few seconds, Shrew saw himself arming the bomb in his mind's eye. When Yellow took their hand off, they also looked out of breath and even paler than before.

"I got it," Shrew said weakly.

"Why do we have to have the Sandshrew do it?" Wes wondered. "I know that type of bomb, I can arm it without you putting any more weird hoodoo in my head."

"You can't break through the Unown's shield," Yellow explained, "but together with your Pokémon, you can weaken it enough to create a hole large enough for Shrew to get through. Are you okay with this, Shrew?"

Shrew nodded – not because he actually _was_ okay with the thing at all... but else was there to do? Shrew understood the risk, he knew there was a possibility he'd never get back to his own world, back to meet Quill and lead the Pokémon in the victory. But the least he could do was to try and give them the chance.

"If we don't do this, Navel Rock will crumble down and there won't be a job left for the bombers," Yellow said. "Are you both ready?"

Shrew nodded again. He looked at Wes – there was no way he trusted this human to cover for him. He was a Pokémon Trainer – to him, Pokémon mattered as much as the weapon in his holster. But at least he had as much reason to close that portal as Shrew did – that'd have to do.

Finally, after gazing at the portal for the longest time, Wes nodded too.

"Good," Yellow said. "I'm raising the shield – you'll have about five minutes to get through the barrier once I do so. Or at least I hope so, anyway," Yellow added.

Not giving the others any more time, Yellow closed their eyes and raised their hands in the air. Nothing seemed to happen at first – but then, looking closely, Shrew noticed the light from the portal reflecting off something invisible that had surrounded the entire area. Wes and Shrew glanced at each other and nodded.

Wes opened four Poké Balls on his belt, sending out a Zebstrika, Ninetales, Espeon and Umbreon. Shrew prepared to fight alongside them, and Wes was expertly giving orders, telling Umbreon to charge and keeping the others held back, ordering them to use their special attacks instead. Shrew joined Umbreon, and wordlessly, they both started hitting the Unown from different sides of the portal, Shrew having to jump up every time to do so. Every attack seemed to bounce back from an invisible wall, but Shrew persisted anyway, using his claws, his tail and even his head in trying to break through.

Wes' positioned his Pokémon to attack from three different sides, using their electricity, fire and psychic beams of energy in sync. These attacks bounced back too, but the Unown started spinning even faster. Were they forced to ante up and work harder in sustaining the barrier?

Shrew stopped hitting the portal for a while when he spotted something: Yellow, who had started out standing up, was now on their knees, sweating and muttering something to themselves, hands still raised. Shrew quickly ran to them.

"Yellow!" Shrew yelled over the sounds of attacks and Wes running around, shouting orders, somehow managing to keep up with the attacks of all four of his Pokémon. "Yellow, are you all right?"

Yellow stopped whispering for a moment and opened their eyes to look at Shrew – either they were sweating so much that it had dripped on their eyes, or...

"Keep going, Shrew," they whispered so weakly that Shrew was startled. "Don't worry about me, just keep doing what you're doing. Soon you'll be free."

Shrew nodded, grabbed the bomb and the detonators from Yellow's side and dragged them closer to the portal. Curling up into a ball, Shrew attempted to use Rollout against the barrier, and while he felt like he hit something every time, nothing seemed to change – until yet another voice spoke in his head. Three in one day – what are the odds?

" _Stop this_ ," the voice said in a high-pitched, whispering tone. " _You have intruded into our world._ "

"And you did that to us," Shrew grumbled and struck the barrier again with his claws, deciding not to buy into any more crap from disembodied voices – though he couldn't help to shake the feeling that the eye of every Unown around the portal was turned at him.

" _We're only reclaiming what was once ours. Lord Giratina needs to return. It is for the good of all Pokémon_."

Shrew stopped hitting the barrier for a moment. That was enough to attract the attention of someone above him:

"What're you doin', little guy? You okay in there?"

Shrew looked up – Wes had jumped on a Pidgeot and was now circling above the portal, having his Pidgeot attack it from above and even shooting at it six times with his remaining revolver. When it run out of bullets, Wes even threw the gun at the barrier, obviously doing nothing.

" _You should understand this, Shrew. You desire a world free of humans just like us. Only we can give it to you – just stop struggling. Soon it doesn't matter whether you're a Pokémon from the Distortion World or any other – all will become one when the worlds collide_."

Shrew heard a Pokémon shriek. The Unown had apparently fought back and used a psychic attack against one of the Pokémon, spinning even faster now. Espeon fell down, and Wes immediately told his Pidgeot to land, jumped off the bird Pokémon's back and landed next to it, checking its pulse. Sighing, Wes returned it to its ball.

Then, Wes made some kind of battle roar Shrew never believed a human could emit and charged at the barrier himself, attempting to punch it only to be knocked back on his ass. Shrew was about to run at him, but Wes got up again and charged again, this time kicking it, throwing miscellaneous items at it and even taking his coat off and whacking the barrier with it, only to have another psychic shock rip it to shreds.

For a moment, Wes looked horrified to see his coat being turned into a pile of fabric, but then he just smirked at Shrew.

"Did ya see that, Sandshrew?" he laughed. "Their weakness is coats! Too bad that was my only one – back to work now!"

And indeed, Wes went to punching and kicking at the portal, even throwing himself against it, while occasionally telling his Pokémon to move and attack a different point. Shrew then turned to look at Yellow, shocked to see their head hang and blood dripping out of their nose. Still, Yellow's hands were raised and the field seemed to hold.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Meanwhile, back at Navel Rock** _

A Team Rocket Grunt was on patrol around the tram tunnel in level B2 of the main part of the facility, ordered to report if he saw a tram approaching. What he wasn't warned about was a tall brown-haired girl running towards him and kicking him square in the chest and knocking him on his back. Another punch in the face later, the Rocket Grunt was out.

After finishing with the Rocket Grunt, Hilda sent out her Emboar in case of more idiots showed up and turned on her Xtransceiver.

"Hilda here, the coast is clear," she said quickly. "Where are you?"

" _In the tram, coming your way_ ," said Jasmine – Hilda was expecting to hear Wes. " _Just a few more minutes_."

Hilda kept her guard up, but didn't have to deal with more Rockets, and soon enough, the tram finally arrived, though with fewer people than Hilda would have hoped: only Rosa, a badly wounded Nate, Jasmine, Bianca and Cal were on board.

"Where's Wes?" Hilda wondered. "And that Matthews guy?"

"Is this _really_ the right time?" Cal asked, showing Hilda the Griseous Orb, which had been inert for a long time. "We got what we came for. Matthews is dead, Wes is coming back soon, we'll tell you the rest later."

Hilda shrugged. "Fine, but no more sass from you – you're in my team now!"

Cal saluted mockingly, to which Hilda rolled her eyes. Together with her Emboar, Hilda led the way past the double doors and into the hallway filled with holes in the walls towards the elevator, the others following her as fast as they could, Bianca helping Rosa half-carry and half-drag Nate.

"Did you see any walking skeletons on your way here?" Jasmine huffed to Hilda as they jogged towards the elevator, unable to run with their load.

"Hey, you _can_ talk!" Hilda said. "Is this the time for jokes, though?"

"I wasn't kidding."

"Huh... uh, no. Did see some really freaky things almost killing us and then a person who could teleport somehow."

As the group turned into the corridor leading to the elevators, a door near the end slammed open and three Rocket Grunts, along with several Koffing, Weezing, Zubat and Golbat stepped out.

"Clear the way!" Hilda yelled and didn't even stop running. "Emboar, Fire Blast!"

A 大-shaped blast of orange fire soon made its way through the corridor, singing the walls and forcing the Rockets to back into the room they came from, the flame brushing ones sleeve and knocking out a Golbat.

"Just focus on moving ahead!" Hilda yelled. "Emboar and I will protect you – we're almost at the elevators!"

What Hilda didn't expect was another door opening right next to her, two Koffing and a Weezing coming out of it. Emboar noticed them and charged at them while Cal raised his blaster.

"Explosion!" a Rocket yelled.

Emboar just managed to knock one of the Koffing back at the Rockets when all three poison-types exploded.

Hilda recovered a few seconds later, finding herself laying in the weirdest position on top of a pile of rubble. Her vision was blurry and she heard nothing but ringing, a huge chunk of the corridor having just been blown apart.

Emboar had absorbed the brunt of the attack, but Hilda's body still ached as she dragged herself halfway up, managing to move her arms at least. Emboar was unconscious in the doorway right next to the Weezing, so Hilda managed to return it to its Poké Ball. She then tried to look around her. Rosa and Nate were moving on the floor, Rosa having shielded Nate with her own body.

 _Idiot_ , Hilda thought. _I don't think I ever taught her to do that_.

Fortunately, Rosa was mostly fine, just covered in soot and ash all over. Looking through the new hole in the doorway, Hilda saw at least two of the Rockets and the two Koffing, also covered in soot and motionless on the floor, most likely unconscious, but Hilda didn't really care if they were dead at this point.

Bianca was moving too, but Hilda's heart skipped a beat when she saw her crouched over Jasmine, hands bloodied. Slowly, Hilda managed to pull herself up and limp at her. Seeing Hilda coming, Bianca turned to look at her and said something:

"...mine... nded... ake it..."

"What? !" Hilda shouted. "Speak up!"

"Jasmine is wounded!" Bianca yelled almost hysterically, tears flowing down her cheeks. "She'll live, but she needs help walking!"

"Okay!" Hilda shouted and shook her head, trying to get rid of the ringing. "So what's the problem? !"

Hilda was mystified as to why Bianca just sobbed as she went back to fixing Jasmine's leg. But then Hilda looked all over the room again and noticed someone else under a pile of rubble. Walking over to this person, Hilda felt nauseated when she saw the person's face sticking out of the rubble, the look of slight shock frozen on his face, a big wound on his head explaining the situation.

"Cal..." Hilda whispered.

That was the second person that day Hilda had lost – not just someone lost during the operation, but when Hilda was in charge. When she was leading them. Just as she had told them it would be okay. And this person she knew even less about than with Buck. At least she knew that Buck was from Sinnoh and had a brother in the Elite Four and a father who was a priest – whether they were actually close, she had no idea.

But who was Cal? Why had he joined the unit? What did he feel about things? Arceus only knew.

Looking around the room some more, Hilda noticed that the Griseous Orb had rolled into the room with the unconscious Rockets. And suddenly, Hilda spotted a Rocket Grunt crawling towards it – the one whose arm Emboar had burnt.

Hilda didn't hesitate as she walked into the room, kicked the Griseous Orb away from the grunt, as the grunt tried to raise his head, Hilda retorted with a swift and brutal kick to the face. Not bothering to find out how much her kick had damaged the grunt, Hilda walked over to the Griseous Orb and picked it up, finally seeing with her own eyes.

 _What an ugly piece of crap_.

Hilda sighed.

"Everyone!" she yelled. "Let's get to the elevator! Rosa will help Nate and Bianca will help Jasmine. I'll take point! Let's move!"

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Distortion World** _

"I got it!" Wes yelled suddenly.

Stopping his futile attacks against the barrier for a second, Wes motioned his Pokémon to stop too and ran to Shrew.

"I can't believe we were so stupid!" he said, kneeling closer to Shrew. "We just need to make a small opening! So we all attack the same point at once – then I'll toss you and the bomb through that. Once you've armed the bomb, we attack again and you leap out! What do you say? Well, I guess nothing since you're a Pokémon, but that's what we're doing! Zebstrika, Ninetales, Umbreon, Pidgeot, come over here!"

The four remaining Pokémon gathered close to Wes, and he explained their plan to them. He looked back at Yellow, who was miraculously still holding the shield up, before returning to face his team.

"Got it?" he asked.

The Pokémon nodded and positioned themselves in a row, Wes standing behind them and Shrew following suit. Though he had no idea what Shrew felt about the plan, he picked the Pokémon up and held it under one arm and picked up the bomb and the detonators with the other.

"Ready!" Wes told his Pokémon. "Attack!"

Zebstrika's Thunderbolt, Ninetales' Flamethrower, Umbreon's Shadow Ball and Pidgeot's Hyper Beam struck at one precise point in the barrier, and just as Wes had hoped, the Unown suddenly stopped rotating around the small hole. Wes ran past his Pokémon and towards the opening, tossing the bomb and detonators through it first and hurling Shrew through it before it closed again.

Wes watched the little Pokémon work, Yellow's mojo doing the trick as Shrew armed the bomb with striking ease and precision in a matter of a few seconds, dropping it right next to the humongous glowing portal. Next, Shrew was waving at Wes, who nodded.

"One more time!" Wes encouraged his Pokémon. "Attack!"

Even being as exhausted as they were, the four Pokémon gathered enough energy to attack one last time, Shrew taking cover as it happened. As another hole appeared in the barrier, Shrew jumped through it, once again a second before it closed up again. Wes quickly recalled his Pokémon, and together with Shrew, ran to Yellow.

"We did it!" Wes yelled as he ran. "It's gonna blow soon!"

But Wes' joy soon turned to terror when he saw Yellow lower their arms, suddenly coughing up blood and collapsing on the ground.

What's worse, Wes realized there was no more protective shield around him.


	7. Divided We Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The strike team finds themselves cornered on all sides by enemies as the walls are closing in.

**Chapter Seven: _Divided We Fall_**

The protective shield gone, Wes grabbed his throat and collapsed on his knees, attempting to draw breath... only to find out that he was breathing just fine. He felt no ill effects from the Distortion World's air – it was somewhat stagnant and dry, but nothing he wasn't used to. He stared at Shrew, who stared back for a while before tearing off the rebreather and breathing deep.

Relieved to be able to breathe, Wes shook Yellow awake. Yellow weakly opened their eyes, Wes wiping the blood off their mouth.

"Don't ever scare me like that again," Wes said, sounding badly out of breath. "We're all fine, though – our lungs didn't collapse or anything! Just get the portal fired up and we'll get out of here!"

"...you better duck," Yellow muttered weakly.

"What was that?" Wes asked.

A deafening explosion and a ridiculously hot blast wave was his answer as the bomb exploded. After the blinding light had faded, Wes had the courage to look at the blast zone. The Unown had stopped spinning, and instead they just floated in the air, almost completely still. Slowly but visibly, the portal started to shrink in size.

"...I have to create a temporary portal before the big one closes," Yellow mumbled, eyes closed again. "My knife..."

Wes took the knife from Yellow and didn't even hesitate to cut his own hand with it, letting a few drops of his blood fall on the ground.

"You've done enough, Yellow," Wes said before turning to look at Shrew. "I can't ask you to do anything, but-"

Shrew didn't hesitate either. Using its claws, it made a small cut in its paw, dropping a little more blood right close to where Wes had done so. Weakly, Yellow dragged themselves up and drew the symbol for the portal, the big one near the Unown having shrunk to half its original size.

Fortunately, a smaller one opened soon enough just as Yellow collapsed from exhaustion again. Wes hefted Yellow on his back, holding them with one hand and offering the other to Shrew.

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier," he said, "but you have to trust me now. It's either that or stay here forever. What's it gonna be?"

The Sandshrew narrowed his eyes at Wes, but reluctantly grabbed the hand he was offering. As the small temporary portal was starting to shrink, too Wes ran right through it, once again feeling himself, Yellow and Shrew pulled by a massive unseen force. However, something felt off and during the few seconds it took for him to travel through the portal, he somehow let go of Shrew, barely realizing that the Pokémon was no longer close to him.

**~o~O~o~**

Wes and Yellow materialized in a fortunately empty corridor. As soon as Wes opened his eyes, he recognized the signs of destruction – he was back at Navel Rock. He couldn't decide whether that was a good thing, though.

The corridor they were in was empty, but Wes could hear muffled sounds of conflict coming from a distance. He barely had time to pick Yellow up and sling their arm over his shoulder when he heard footsteps coming from around the corner. Feeling sore all over, Wes made a weak grab towards his revolvers, only to remember that he had lost both. Worse yet, his brown jacket was gone, too – and that one wasn't easy to steal.

Wes prepared himself to fight whoever came by hand if necessary – but was relieved to see they were Hilda, Rosa, Nate, Jasmine and Bianca, the first three firing their blasters at something out of Wes' sight. The moment Hilda noticed Wes, her face lit up ad she ran to him. Wes noted the bag Cal had used to carry the Griseous Orb was with her, and Cal himself was nowhere to be seen.

"Wes!" Hilda cheered, but the brief smile on her face soon faded when she saw Yellow. "Wait – why is that one with you?"

" _This_ _one_ just saved all of us," Wes groaned. "And I think they're about to die. Bianca!"

"On it," Bianca said – she was helping Jasmine walk, but the latter insisted she was fine, so Bianca left her sitting and leaning against a wall and dashed to Yellow instead.

Rosa and Nate had finished shooting at whatever they had fought before and joined the rest. Hilda didn't stop Bianca from tending to Yellow, who Wes laid carefully on the floor, but still eyed them suspiciously.

"Saved _how_ , exactly?" she asked Wes.

"Portal," Wes panted. "The one those freaky things used to come through. We closed it. Whatever had come through before are stuck here."

"We have the rest of Cal's explosives here," Nate said – Wes noticed he was walking again. "We blow this place up and kill them as we get out of here. Sounds like a plan, right?"

"You're looking more chipper," Wes grunted to him.

"Bianca's shot did the trick," Nate said. "But that wouldn't have helped if you hadn't saved me before. Now it's my turn to do something for you! Team Rocket is fleeing, though we saw a few dead ones on our way. The only thing we have to deal with anymore are those glitch things."

"Way to make that sound like a good thing," Rosa commented, though with a smile. Her whole demeanor was much more relaxed now.

"Regarding this 'Yellow'," Hilda interrupted impatiently. "The fact is that they still lied and-"

"Hilda," Jasmine said quietly, prompting everyone to look at her again. "Didn't you hear Wes? They saved all of our lives. They gave us more time to finish our mission."

"Crap," Wes muttered, remembering the time limit. "How much time we have left?"

"Under two hours," Hilda said as she checked out her C-Gear. "But it doesn't matter now. We have the Griseous Orb and Dr. Kaminko, and I already called Marshal. He's on his way, but the Rockets outside are still causing him trouble. Wes, are you _absolutely_ sure we can trust-"

"Yes!" Wes snapped.

Hilda and Wes stared at each other intensely for a few seconds. For a moment, Wes was sure Hilda would protest or even smack him across the face. But instead, she just nodded and, for the first time since the two had met, smiled warmly and for longer than just a second.

"It's good that we have you with us, Wes," Hilda said.

"Thanks... but I doubt anyone would be here if it you weren't leading us," Wes said back. "Did anyone see a Sandshrew around here, by the way?"

Hilda frowned. "Do you have a Sandshrew?" she asked.

"No, I... you didn't see... forget it," Wes sighed.

Everyone was startled as Bianca cheered and Yellow gasped as they recovered. Wes watched in concern when Yellow stood up like nothing had happened, in perfect shape despite looking quite pale and greenish, not to mention sweaty, in the face, a little dried blood still around their lips.

"We made it," Yellow said simply. They looked around the room, perhaps wondering why everyone was staring at them. "I hope you all forgive me for my deception earlier."

Bianca let out a relieved laugh as she hugged Yellow, who was confused by the act but didn't struggle against it. Wes smiled at Yellow as well, though just doing so hurt his face.

"Here's your bag," Wes told Yellow, giving them the bag they had used to carry around the bomb. "Those powers were pretty goddamn awesome, I gotta say. I wouldn't mind being able to do all that crazy crap."

Yellow took the bag carefully from Wes and nodded silently. Hilda cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Yellow, I... I shouldn't have doubted you," she said.

Yellow just waved it off. "You had every reason to do so, Hilda. You have an enormous responsibility over everyone here."

"Well, I should have listened to you," she amended, biting her lip and looking at the floor. "And that's not all. We ran into more Team Rocket on the way, and... we lost Cal. I'm so sorry."

Yellow looked at the floor as well, though their expression didn't change. If anything, they just looked contemplative. Wes just stared at Hilda in disbelief. All this time, he hadn't been sure what to think of Cal, but to hear that he had died...

_How many more have to go for this?_

"I see," Yellow said finally. "I'm sad to hear that. He was an enormous help. I apologize for him as well. I don't know if he felt any particular guilt for it, but he didn't enjoy lying to you either. And he died fighting for a good cause," Yellow added quietly, clasping their hands together briefly before getting up.

"What's our next move?" they asked Hilda.

Hilda blinked, but managed to pull herself together. "We stop wasting time and get to the drop-off!" she said firmly. "With your help, I think we can make it on time with a lot to spare. Once we dropped things off, we save everyone we can and get them out of here as well."

"And what of the people still stuck upstairs?" Yellow asked neutrally. "Are you sure we'll have enough time to go get them? And we have to make sure to set the explosives as well."

"Ain't even a thing!" Rosa exclaimed, her hand on Nate's shoulder. "The two of us can go up and do both. What do you say, Hilda?"

Hilda looked unsure, biting her lip so hard it almost bled, looking around the room and everyone in it one at a time. Finally, she sighed and nodded sharply.

"Go, then," she said. "But be back soon. If you run into too much trouble, forget them and save yourselves."

Before Rosa and Nate left, Hilda tossed them her Xtransceiver. The duo saluted Hilda and ran back the way they came, towards the elevators, presumably. Bianca gave Wes an injection that managed to relieve his pain, allowing him to walk again. Together, the remnants of the group walked past a lobby containing more bodies of Team Rocket members and to a reinforced door that led to a dark staircase. Hilda knocked on the door, and soon enough, it was opened by Hilbert, who lowered the blaster he was carrying and grinned in delight upon seeing the others.

"You guys!" he cheered. "You all made it! And you have the Griseous Orb?"

Hearing the words, a tall, graying scientist squeezed past Hilbert rudely. Wes frowned. _So this is Kaminko_ , he thought. _The reason Buck, Cal and most likely Professor Krane, not to mention all those civilians, are dead._

Wes decided that he hated him even if he saved sick orphaned Pokémon on his spare time.

"Finally!" Kaminko huffed. "Are you ready to get me out of this hell hole?"

"We're ready to complete the mission, which you are sadly part of," Hilda snapped, and Wes smiled at her. "Be a little more grateful! The orb is here," she told Hilbert, showing it to him. "The submarine will soon arrive, but there might still be hostages in the floor above us. The coast should be clear to the sub, so it might be enough if I take Kaminko there."

"I'll go with you," Yellow said suddenly. "Can I suggest that you send Wes, Jasmine, Bianca and Hilbert to the upper floor?"

"Fine by me!" Hilbert said. "Good to see you're with us again, by the way, Yellow. You, too, Wes!"

"Yeah, whatever, this is seriously _not_ the time for that!" Hilda snapped. "Wes – you cool with this?"

"Well, I don't know if I can deal without your awesome presence, but okay," Wes remarked. "We'll get it done."

"Good," Hilda said and briefly looked at everyone present, her eyes lingering on Hilbert for a second. "Once we're all done, we'll meet again in this lobby. If it looks like you can't find anyone on time, come back here anyway. I want everyone here to make it out alive, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Hilbert said cheekily.

Bianca offered to help Jasmine walk again, but she seemed to have regained control of her legs, so she wordlessly rejected the offer. Wes, Jasmine, Bianca and Hilbert then made their way upstairs through the emergency staircase, while Hilda, Yellow and Kaminko rushed towards the hangar.

**~o~O~o~**

Shrew woke up realizing he was on the same level he had left into the Distortion World from. He got up on his feet, already anticipating trouble, hearing muffled sounds of conflict from afar, though he was unsure if it was happening on the same level. Shrew found himself in a dimly lit hallway, most of the lights having been blown into bits.

Shrew slowly inched himself to the end of the hallway and looked around the corner, moving closer towards the source of the noise. Indeed, at the end of the corridor, huge chunks of the wall and floor were missing, smoke pouring out of a crater with bodies at the bottom. Shrew didn't even want to know if they were human or Pokémon, he just immediately took burst into the next room he found.

That just happened to be the security room, the lights in that place broken as well, though the security monitors were all on, casting a pale light into the small, windowless room. Shrew climbed on a chair to get a better look at the monitors. Some of the cameras didn't work, the monitors only showing static, while pretty much every other screen showed signs of carnage. Partially destroyed rooms, other rooms filled with bodies of hostages, Team Rocket members and captive Pokémon. Shrew didn't have time to mourn their fates, however – he kept cycling through the footage in desperation, attempting to find the Pokémon he cared about the most...

 _There_!

On one camera that the on-screen text showed to be from one level below, a group of frightened non-Rocket humans were attempting to flee from something. A Granbull had sank its enormous teeth into one of the humans, while a Zangoose, most likely the one Bagon and Pachirisu had talked about, slashed its claws across another human's chest. The two Pokémon continued to chase the humans across the room, eventually stumbling across a band of smaller Pokémon – mainly Rattata, Litleo, Skiddo and the like. Shrew winced as he saw the Granbull bulldoze through them as well, tossing them around without even stopping. That was until a blast of fire finally caused the Granbull to take cover. Shrew almost hit his face on the monitor when he saw a Cyndaquil emerge and begin to fight the Granbull, its flamethrower attack sweeping the room until it hit the camera, stopping Shrew from seeing what was happening.

 _Quill_...

"Who's there?!" a Pokémon voice suddenly cried from the corner. "I'm not sleeping! I was just preparing to attack you!"

The blue, dragon-type Pokémon stepped into the light, her expression completely changed when she realized who she was talking to.

"Shrew!" Bagon exclaimed. "You actually did it! You're really making a name of yourself out there!"

"Good to see you too," Shrew said urgently, wanting to go down and help Quill as soon as possible – though Bagon's words did intrigue him. "...what do you mean 'making a name'?"

"Oh, Shrew, it was amazing!" Bagon said frantically. "I was looking for more captive Pokémon as you said, mostly small ones, and released them. We, well, Quill, mostly, told them all about your escapades, how you had went into another dimension to save us! They were really inspired and went along with Quill to fight their way out of here! Too bad one of them was apparently in league with that nasty Zangoose and betrayed their location and then they got into a fight and I got separated-"

"I saw them, they're down below!" Shrew said quickly. "We have to go and help!"

"Of course," Bagon sighed. "But Shrew, I gotta tell you, I was wrong! Wrong about you and wrong about that professor Krane guy as well!"

Shrew jumped off the chair, and together with Bagon, started to make their way towards the level's elevators. "Why's that?" he asked Bagon.

"He patched me up better than I expected," Bagon huffed. "He managed to do something to Quill too, at least he got her back in fighting shape. Now she can use her powers as she pleases! I dunno if he cured whatever was ailing her, as he got separated from us too! This may sound weird, but... I hope he's okay!"

Shrew and Bagon made it to the elevators, but all but one were disabled, and that one was currently occupied, slowly making its way to the level above them. However, close to the elevators was a hatch leading to a garbage chute. Shrew glanced at Bagon, who winced, but nodded.

"I guess getting dirty is the least of our problems," Bagon grumbled.

"Well, our problems are soon over," Shrew said and positioned himself below the garbage chute. "Come over here, I'll help you climb up and then you can pull me."

"Yeah, okay," Bagon said – Shrew noticed she was talking quickly and sweating profusely. "I just... are we really going to get out of here?"

"Of course we are," Shrew said and pushed Bagon up, allowing her to climb into the chute.

"...then what?" Bagon asked while climbing.

As Bagon got up, Shrew stared at her in confusion. "What?"

Bagon sighed. "I hatched here," she admitted. "I'm less than two years old, and all I've known is the same old routine of being a lab animal. Do you know what it's like out there?"

Shrew stopped to ponder the question. Quill's dilemma was still the chief thing on his mind, but he wanted to make sure Bagon didn't stop or hesitate. But what would he tell her?

"I don't remember much of it," Shrew admitted truthfully. "I was probably just a few weeks old when they caught me. My earliest memory is me getting captured in an electrified net and my mother and potential siblings getting sucked into a tube – even that's a little fuzzy. But the little I do remember before that is... I was happy. And I can be again, just like you."

"How touching!"

Shrew turned around – somehow, without him noticing, a Pokémon accompanied by four humans had managed to sneak behind him. The Pokémon was the Pachirisu, its fur smeared with blood and a vicious grin on its face. The humans, as Shrew noticed, were both Rockets and civilians, pale and greenish in the face, their eyes glowing red, just standing behind Pachirisu with their mouths open.

"Surprising, isn't it?" Pachirisu asked, nodding at the humans. "This is just a taste of lord Giratina's power. By dying, these humans have finally made themselves of use, and thanks to my new master, I can control them as I wish."

"Bagon go!" Shrew told the dragon-type as he stared at Pachirisu. "I'll be right behind you – Bagon?"

Shrew looked up – Bagon had alredy gone, Shrew hearing her frightened yowl as she slid down the garbage chute. Pachirisu just laughed.

"Such sweet friendship," he mocked. "You should have learned this by now, Shrew – it's every Pokémon for themselves!"

"Is it even worth asking why you're doing this?" Shrew wondered. "If you stop me, you'll just end like any other Pokémon here!"

"No, Shrew," Pachirisu said calmly. "Giratina will never abandon me, as long as I do Their bidding. Everything that happened here went according to plan before you stepped in – that's why you can't leave. I mean," Pachirisu laughed again, "did you really expect me to stop worshiping our new ruler and join you instead?"

"No," Shrew admitted, "I just wanted to check where we stood."

And with that, Shrew lunged at Pachirisu, claws extended. Even the lightning-fast Pachirisu didn't react in time as Shrew slit his throat. As Pachirisu collapsed, the zombified humans just stood there, awaiting their orders. Shrew didn't stick around, but ran towards the open chute and jumped into it, dropping down a long steel shaft before landing on a pile of garbage bags.

**~o~O~o~**

Rosa and Nate stood in the elevator, on their way to the second floor above the ground, ready to pick up the hostages from the room they had found professor Krane in. However, between the ground floor and the first basement floor, the elevator stopped moving. Nate mashed the second floor's button over and over, but the elevator didn't budge.

"What now?" he groaned.

"We have to find another way up," Rosa said. "This place will be bombed soon!"

Rosa pushed past Nate and pressed the button that opened the doors. There was a small gap Rosa and Nate managed to squeeze through, landing on floor B1, which was littered with corpses and debris, holes on almost every wall. The duo didn't have time to stand around when something tore its way through a door to their right, Rosa shrieking as she saw the skeletal Kabutops lumber towards them.

"What the hell is that?!" Nate cried as he fired his blaster at it, making no damage whatsoever.

"Long story," Rosa remarked in panic and threw her first Poké Ball, sending out her Scolipede. "Use Earthquake!" she ordered.

The huge bug-type stomped on the floor, creating a seismic wave that managed to slow the skeletal Kabutops down a little. Rosa and Nate then dashed into a room on the left side of the corridor, Scolipede following suit, using Earthquake a few more times, creating a hole on the floor that the Kabutops monster slipped its foot in.

Rosa and Nate locked the door of the room, but while Nate stopped to take a breath, Rosa looked around frantically until he found what she was looking for: a desk that she started to push towards the door.

"What are you doing?" Nate asked her.

"Trust me," Rosa groaned as she pushed with all her might, "that thing isn't stopped by locked doors, so you might want to help me!"

Nate didn't question it, but helped Rosa push the heavy, wooden desk against the door. Indeed, they soon heard pounding from the door as the Kabutops banged its scythe against it.

"It'll break through soon!" Rosa said. "We need to put more stuff here!"

"Or we could just run!" Nate argued and dashed to the other side of the room, where there was another door.

Nate opened the door, but Rosa didn't have to ask what was going on: Nate shrieked and fired his blaster at something. Rosa ordered Scolipede to go and help, the bug-type blasting at the unseen monstrosities with Venoshock.

As Rosa started pushing a heavy bookshelf closer to the barricade, Nate and Scolipede soon dashed back in and Nate locked the door.

"There's..." he panted. "There's like dozens of little ones out there! Those purple smoke thingies!"

Rosa stared at him, and Nate soon got the clue and started pushing another bookshelf against that door. Rosa nodded at Scolipede, who helped him, the two easily managing to barricade that door. Soon enough, they started to look for more heavy objects, and the duo quickly heard the glitch Pokémon pounding on that door as well.

As Rosa finally finished pushing her bookshelf against the desk, she was startled by the skeleton Kabutops' white scythe burst through the thick, wooden door. It wouldn't last long.

Seeing its trainer in trouble prompted Scolipede to dash towards her and attempt to ram against the skeleton Kabutops. Before Rosa could tell it otherwise, Kabutops had stabbed its scythe through the door, managing to slash Scolipede with it. Rosa screamed as the Scolipede crashed down, but had to back from the door as she could see the skeleton through it, attempting to create a larger hole into it.

Nate ran to help Rosa and they both backed against one corner of the room, as far from the door as possible, hugging each other and watching in terror as both doors started to slowly give in.

"Wuh... we..." Rosa stuttered, her lips trembling as she stared at Scolipede's body. "We're not going to make it..."

"What about your other Pokémon?" Nate asked frantically. "Damn it, I wish I had mine! Even my blaster is running out of power!"

"Mine too," Rosa lamented. "And my Pokémon are too exhausted – I haven't had time to heal them. And what good will they do, anyway? They'll just get killed like Scolipede!"

"Goddammit!" Nate yelled as he balled his fists and cringed. "We were so close..."

Rosa tore her eyes off Scolipede and looked at Nate, who was reduced to muttering incoherently. Staring at him, the realization dawned on Rosa as well. There was no way out. No one could come to save them in time, what with all the elevators out of order, and the doors seconds away from giving in.

Gulping, Rosa grabbed Nate's hand with her own.

"Nate," she whispered. "We can't let these things get any further."

"Don't you think I know that?!" Nate ranted as he held his head with his other hand. "But we can't do anything against them!"

"We... we can," Rosa said slowly. "T-the explosives..."

Nate opened his damp eyes and stared at Rosa, mouth slightly open as if he was about to say something, but couldn't.

"You're not in any shape to fight anyway," Rosa told Nate, desperately holding back her tears. "We have to give Hilda and the others a chance."

Nate continued to stare at Rosa, but as he heard another crash as the Kabutops tore the door apart and started to break through the barricade, he slowly started pulling the bomb and the detonators out of his bag.

"We have to call them," Rosa said, her hands shaking uncontrollably as she tried to use her Xtransceiver. "Warn them, tell them we failed – m-maybe they can still try to save the people..."

But all Rosa could get from her device was static. Cursing to herself, she tossed it away and buried her face in her hands as Nate finished arming the device – it was only the click of a button away from starting to count down its ten second counter.

The Kabutops tore through the desk, sending splinters flying all over the place. Startled, Rosa and Nate embraced each other, Rosa nodding at Nate as he pushed the button. The clock started to count down.

_10... 9... 8..._

The Kabutops skeleton kicked the Scolipede out of the way, the air getting distorted around it as it walked. It slowly lumbered towards Rosa and Nate, ignorant of the ticking bomb next to it.

_5... 4... 3..._

Rosa and Nate closed their eyes as Kabutops got close to them and brought up its scythe.

**~o~O~o~**

Back in B3, the entire floor shook as Kaminko dialed the access code required to get into the hangar. Hilda and Yellow looked around them, but had to ignore the shaking and distant sound of an explosion now as they ran into the hangar.

Two Rocket Grunts were apparently anticipating them, standing guard and watching a submarine emerge from the pool of water that connected to the facility to the ocean around Navel Rock. They turned around as Hilda, Yellow and Kaminko dashed in, raising their own weapons at them. But as they were distracted, the submarine's dash opened and a huge, muscular man jumped out, using his elbows to knock both Rocket Grunts into the ground.

"God, I forgot how fulfilling that felt!" Marshal exclaimed as he got up and dusted his uniform. "Hey, guys, how goes it?"

"Maybe you should have joined us before," Hilda remarked, managing a wry smile. She tossed the Griseous Orb at Marshal. "Here's what we came here for."

"Wow, it's so light," Marshal observed as he weighed the thing on his hand. "Real eyesore, too. And is that the administrator?"

"Yes," Kaminko said, irritated by Marshal's careless handing of the artifact. "I am Dr. Kaminko, and you shouldn't-"

"Yeah, cool, get in the sub," Marshal interrupted. "If anyone besides Dock had piloted it, it would be scrap metal right now – looks like Team Rocket brought their own little diving equipment."

Hilda watched Kaminko clumsily climb up the ladders bolted to the side of the submarine while Yellow stood a little away from the sub, observing the hangar and keeping watch.

"Okay, well, we gotta run!" Hilda said as Kaminko was finally in. "There are still people stuck there, no matter what Lan... I mean, no matter what anyone says. Plus I heard an explosion before and I'm worried about the others."

"Sorry to hear about Buck and Cal," Marshal said more seriously as he held the Griseous Orb under his arm. "How did Marston work out for you?"

"Better than we could have hoped," Hilda said as she glanced at Yellow briefly. "Though he's still kind of a prick, though."

"And one more thing!" Marshal said firmly. "You know that there's a good chance we might not make it back for you, right? The teleport might be your only choice, and if there's no one left alive to use it..."

"Jas, I mean, Jasmine is still with us," Hilda said. "She can make it work."

Marshal nodded. "Just be careful then. I know you can get everyone out of here. I'll do my best to stall command for a little while longer. Kick ass, Hilda!"

Hilda smiled and saluted. "And after this, we're getting drunk – as long as I don't have to carry you again."

"You could probably do it without Hilbert's help this time," Marshal remarked as he climbed back into the sub.

With one more cheerful wave, Marshal closed the sub's hatch, and soon enough, it submerged, disappearing from sight. Hilda and Yellow left the hangar, but stopped when they saw a dozen more glitch Pokémon tearing through furniture mindlessly at the end of the corridor, many of them looking like regular Pokémon gone wrong while others being just incomprehensible messes.

Hilda sent out her Emboar, but as she was about to order an attack, Yellow grabbed her arm. Hilda looked down at the much shorter Yellow, who looked surprisingly calm.

"Don't send it there," Yellow said quietly. "It's no match for that many glitch Pokémon. Just keep it ready to fight and stick close to me – I'll shield us as you go and get those hostages out."

"You sure?" Hilda asked. "You were just coughing up blood not too long ago."

Yellow smiled. "I heal fast."

**~o~O~o~**

Meanwhile, in the floor above, Wes, Jasmine, Bianca and Hilbert exchanged confused looks as they heard the explosion from the floor above and felt the tremors. Hilbert let out a small, frightened squeak.

"Did they start the bombing already?" he said nervously.

"No way," Wes argued – checking the C-Gear, he saw they still had an hour and a half to go. "I think we'd know, anyway. We'll just make a quick sweep and get it over with!"

Hilbert had sent out his Samurott while Jasmine had done the same with her Mawile, a cutesy yellow Pokémon that Wes wasn't very impressed by, but as he had exhausted his Pokémon back at the Distortion World, he had no room to argue. Instead, he had taken point using Hilbert's blaster.

"Just a thought," Bianca said carefully as the group moved forward, checking every room and every hole blasted in the wall for survivors. "The sub will take Kaminko and the orb to the nearest island, right? But it takes an hour to get there."

"Mm-hmm," Wes said as he checked a room that had its door blasted apart, but found nothing – fortunately enough.

"Marshal will try to stall the bombing," Hilbert assured, though mostly to himself than anyone else. "And besides, we already know there's like a dozen hostages below us, so there's no way we'd all be able to fit into the sub. We're going to use the teleport, right? Right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Wes muttered, wondering why Hilbert was asking him. "Jas?"

"I can use it," Jasmine said surprisingly firmly. "And I know the layout of this place, so there are escape pods in this floor which we can use if all else fails – unless they've all been launched already. But don't worry, the bombing won't kill us – we'll be crushed by the debris fairly quickly," she added grimly.

Hilbert wiped his face with his hand, practically leaving a trail of sweat behind him.

"Hey, nobody else dies today, didn't we agree on that?" Bianca said.

The group soon reached a point of the floor where the corridor split into four directions, rooms in every direction. Wes groaned in annoyance.

"We really don't have time for this!" he grumbled.

"Please don't say that we should split up and search for clues," Hilbert groaned.

"We have to keep looking for a little longer!" Bianca said. "We can't just leave them here!"

Wes sighed. "I know, you're right. We just have to..."

Wes trailed off as he stared at the corridor leading left, the one with the elevators at the end of them. Two civilians and two Rocket Grunts just stood still next to a dead rodent Pokémon, apparently oblivious to what was going on. Maybe the Rockets had finally given up and realized they were in the same situation as everyone else now.

Wes motioned the others to stay still and held firmly on his blaster as he approached the four humans.

"Hey!" Wes yelled at them. "You okay in there? We need to-"

Wes had just enough time to realize that the humans had glowing red eyes and inhumanely pale, almost greenish skin as something came through the wall next to them that blew the zombified humans up and knocked them away. It was another skeletal monster, this time the shape of an Aerodactyl. Like the Kabutops, it warped the air around it, but could also somehow fly despite its wings being reduced to bones. As it turned to 'look' at Wes with his empty eye sockets, Wes saw it charge energy in its mouth.

Without even trying to use his blaster against the skeletal Aerodactyl, Wes turned back and ran towards his friends, who were all frozen by terror. As Wes yelled at them to run, they all ran into separate directions, but were far too slow as the Aerodactyl fired a sizzling hot beam of destructive energy. Wes managed to throw himself down just as the beam was about to evaporate him, but couldn't avoid the explosion that ensued a second later.

Wes was out of commission for several minutes. The skeletal Aerodactyl had flown away, having most likely blasted its way through either the floor or the ceiling to get to the other floors. Even after he opened his eyes, Wes couldn't see much, but before he started panicking about having gone blind, he realized he was covered by rubble. His body covered in burns and bruises, he dug his way through it, coming to the painful realization that the explosion had leveled almost the entire floor, the walls between the rooms and the corridors having collapsed.

Wes started to slowly crawl his way through the debris, looking around for any signs of life. It was probably safe to call out for them, but at the moment, Wes couldn't bring himself to shout – breathing alone was painful. As he crawled on, Wes had to stop and cough as he inhaled some dust – an enormous cloud of dust had erupted during the explosion and it still partly lingered in the air.

But even through the dust, Wes could see a familiar green beret on top of some rubble, and the sleeve of a colorful shirt sticking out underneath a large chunk of wall. Wes crawled over to it and started to dig around for the person underneath, grabbing everything he could get his hands on and tossing it away from the person, desperately hoping she would start moving soon.

It was no use, however. Bianca had been severely burned by the attack and suffered a large head injury due to the debris. Wes checked her pulse from her wrist, and quietly lowered the arm in resignation.

Refusing to let this stop him, Wes crawled away from Bianca's body in search of the others. Every step he took was painful, no less because of the burns on his hands and knees. However, at least he apparently hadn't broken anything, even if pain shot up his spine every time he crawled forward.

Finally, he saw some debris shaking close to him. Wes watched Jasmine's Mawile emerge from the rubble, dragging its fortunately alive and conscious trainer with it. Wes quickly crawled over the two.

"Jas!" Wes wheezed, his voice weak and hoarse. "Please say something!"

"...what's next?" Jasmine muttered.

"Huh? Jas, are you-"

"I mean... what comes after this?" Jasmine said weakly, smiling at Wes with her other eye only half-open. "A skeleton Omastar? It would make sense, right?"

Wes sighed in relief, and together with Mawile, pulled the excess rubble off Jasmine until they were ready to pull her away. Unfortunately, as she had already been wounded before, her legs were completely out of commission.

"I think... they might be broken," Jasmine said with surprising softness and winced as she tried to move them. "Yeah, multiple small fractures on my shins... and thighs... and possibly knees. I don't suppose Bianca could-"

"Jas," Wes said firmly, but couldn't say any more than that, the idea causing him even more pain.

Jasmine seemed to understand, and her reaction seemed to be the same as hearing about the death of Buck – simple acceptance. Somehow, she still remained calm.

"What about Hilbert?" she asked.

"I haven't found him," Wes said and slowly raised his arm and tried to use his Xtransceiver, even though just bending his wrist caused him pain. "Let me try to get a hold of Rosa and Nate."

But as Wes sent them a call, there was no response. She gave the Xtransceiver to Jasmine, who had no luck either. As Jasmine fiddled with the device's controls for a while, she eventually sighed and her shoulders slumped as she gave it back to Wes.

"What is it?" Wes asked. "Did you figure something out?"

"There is no signal anymore," Jasmine said flatly. "Their device has been destroyed. And if Rosa wore it on her wrist..."

Wes started rubbing his temples. During all his travels, he had never faced anything like this. One by one, every single person he had been hired to assist and protect had been killed. And now he couldn't even get the hostages out safely.

 _Just as that guy told me_ , Wes thought suddenly.

Wes blinked as he stared at Jasmine, who stared back in confusion. Really, Wes didn't even see her, as he had completely sank in his thoughts. Just like Nate and possibly Hilda had been, Wes had been ordered to silence absolutely _everyone_ , his teammates included. Tempting as the offer was, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Only now, circumstances had done it for him.

 _Buck, Cal, Krane, Bianca, Nate, Rosa, maybe Hilbert_...

Wes was hurt, but not too much. He could still get away and complete his mission. He didn't trust the man who made him the offer the slightest, but he also knew how they operated – Wes was sure the guy who pay him whatever he would ask just to keep quiet about it. And Jasmine was wounded and unable to go on any further...

"W-wes?" Jasmine said.

Snapped out of his funk, Wes stared at Jasmine, and Jasmine's expression made Wes wonder if she had known what he was thinking all along.

"No," Wes said quietly.

"Um... sorry?"

"I don't care if it's just the two of us, but we're getting out of here!" Wes said. "You said there are escape pods in this floor – do you remember where?"

"Y-yes," Jasmine said. "In the direction I was running in, though everything kinda looks t he same now... well, I can guide you there, but I can't walk..."

Wes turned his back on Jasmine and crouched close to her. Jasmine took the hint, and after some hesitation, wrapped her hands around him. Wes grabbed her legs, and with one painful lift that made Wes yell in pain, Wes lifted Jasmine on his back, though his knees wobbled and his body ached all over.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Jasmine asked uncertainly, startled by Wes' scream. "You don't have to-"

"Yes, I do," Wes said. "Which way?"

Jasmine pointed Wes in the right direction and ordered her Mawile to go first. The two made their way towards what they hoped were the escape pods, though Wes had to walk slowly as every step caused him tremendous pain.

"I have to confess somethin'," Wes grunted as he carried Jasmine and limped forward. "Back when we first saw the Kabutops monster, when you were hacking that door, I... got a call from someone."

"Who?" Jasmine asked.

"I don't know, but it seems _he's_ the one behind this mission."

Wes stopped for a second and knelt to catch his breath – even talking was not only hurting but draining his energy quickly. It didn't help that Jasmine was heavier than Yellow, though fortunately not much so.

"He..." Wes panted, wondering how he should phrase it. "He told me the real reason I was brought on this mission. From the start, they weren't expecting you guys to make it."

Jasmine sighed. "I knew it," she said quietly. "I knew it, because we'd only been a unit less than a year, and they had people with decades worth of experience in reserves. Why would they send _us_ of all people on a mission of such great importance?"

"You knew?" Wes asked.

"I suspected," Jasmine muttered. "I mean, I didn't think they were _expecting_ us to fail, but I knew something was up. But... everyone was so excited to go on this mission, especially Hilda. And I didn't really want to, um... speak up."

"Well, you couldn't have done anything," Wes said quickly. "See, they brought me here because they wanted an outsider in to make sure only two things left this facility: the Griseous Orb and Dr. Kaminko. Everything else was not only expendable, but from the start, they wanted to make sure they wouldn't leave _any_ witnesses. That's why they didn't want to send their best and brightest in... no offense."

"None taken," Jasmine mumbled. "But does that mean... they told you to, um, kill all of us?"

"Yes," Wes sighed. "I didn't have a lot time to think about it, though. First Kabutops attacked, then the Griseous Orb, then we had to save Nate and I had to go to a frickin' alternate dimension... but I didn't say 'no'. And do you know why that is?"

"Wes..."

"Because they offered me a crapton of money," Wes said in disgust. "Money I sorely need. I actually considered taking the offer!"

Taking a deep breath, Wes got up and started walking again, hoping the pods weren't far. He didn't hear Jasmine say anything, but he could hear her breathing as her mouth was right next to his ear.

Eventually, Jasmine spoke up: "Are you... still considering it?"

"No," Wes said. "Screw that guy. Screw them all. We'll get you to an escape pod, I'll swing by to get Hilda and Yellow and we'll leave this crap behind us for good."

"...thanks," Jasmine mumbled.

"Don't mention it," Wes grunted. "And I mean seriously – I don't deserve you thanks. And Jasmine?"

"Yes?"

"From now on, speak up. Don't feel ashamed for it, don't be afraid to do it and never let anyone stop you. Speak your mind and do what you think is right."

Wes, Jasmine and Mawile continued their slow, anguished journey in silence.

**~o~O~o~**

As Shrew landed on the garbage bags, he was soon pulled up by Bagon, who had fortunately stopped to wait for him. Together, the two ran towards the room Shrew had seen through the surveillance cameras, but as they ran, Shrew saw a door open along the hallway and stopped on his tracks, preparing to stab them with his claws if necessary. Fortunately, it was not, as the door's opener turned out to be professor Krane, who waved the two to come in.

As they did so, Shrew took a good look at Krane. The other lens of his glasses was broken and his lab coat had been shredded, but he seemed to be in good shape otherwise. Not only that, but the room he was in was full of Pokémon: a Rattata, a Litleo, a Skiddo, a Shinx and a Sandile cheered and rejoiced, chanting Shrew's name as they saw him arrive. The Litleo put its paw on Shrew's shoulder and shook the Pokémon roughly, while Rattata and Shinx raised Bagon in the air, praising it as well.

"He returns!" Litleo cheered. "I told you he would!"

"We've heard so much about you, Shrew!" said the Sandile. "You'll help us rise against both the humans and Zangoose and help us reclaim this place and make it our home!"

"What's going on?" Shrew asked Krane, who was still wearing his translator headset.

"You're a hero to them, Shrew," Krane smiled. "I don't know if you knew this, but a lot of Pokémon have attempted to escape over the years. No one has come as far as you have. Not only that, but they seem to have a lot of affection for Quill and Bagon as well. Hell, they even named me a 'honorary Pokémon' and praised me as the first human to understand them – I tried to tell them that it's just this device that helps me do that and I'm _certainly_ not the first, but hell, you try stopping them!"

"I told you that we inspired them, Shrew," Bagon laughed. "I wonder what else Quill told-"

"Quill!" Shrew said pointedly. "Where is she?"

"Right here!"

All five of the little Pokémon stepped out of the way when the familiar Cyndaquil made her way towards Shrew. Only, she wasn't all that familiar. The flames on her back were alight and burned more intensely than ever before, and overall, the way she carried herself had changed immensely.

"You did it!" Quill praised Shrew as she rushed to hug him. "You saved us!"

"Not quite yet," Shrew said awkwardly, not expecting to get a hug but did little to protest. "And it honestly sounds like you've done more than me back here."

"So are we ready to go?" the Litleo asked.

"Where, exactly?" Shrew asked Quill.

"Professor Krane says the teleport chambers are in this floor," Quill said. "If we can rush our way past the glitch Pokémon, we're home free, and with you and Bagon here, I think we can do it."

"I was just about to tell you something, though," Krane said hastily. "Honestly, I'd prefer to wait until those strike team members who helped me before joined us, but not only has it been a long time since I saw them, but this place won't last much longer, even with the time you gave us, Shrew. And besides, thanks to these Pokémon, I heard rumors that they came here to silence us civilians, so I'm not all that keen on assisting them anymore, anyway."

"And they can always teleport after us," Bagon pointed out.

"No, that's what I was going to tell you about," Krane said. "I can activate the teleport, but the only ones who can calibrate it right are the people working for that division, who I think are long dead now. I have a feeling that the teleport chambers won't be able to handle the enormous burst of energy that teleportation creates – the whole room might collapse!"

Shrew pondered this for a moment. The 'Yellow' person, whoever it was, had been an enormous help to him – but if they could create a portal to another dimension, surely they could get out on their own? The others Shrew did not care for that much. Yes, the 'Wes' character had helped him, but apparently he had come there in the first place to kill everyone... and Shrew hadn't forgotten how Wes had let go of him during the teleportation.

"We can't wait around for those guys!" Shrew said finally. "Plus they'll want to use that thing on their own. The way I see it, it's us or them!"

"Are you sure?" Quill asked Shrew carefully. "I mean, do they really deserve to be left here?"

"All I know is that _we_ sure as hell don't!" Shrew said. "Everyone, we're moving out!"

The little Pokémon followers cheered, and Krane carefully opened the door. The eight Pokémon and the human checked that the coast was clear, Krane calculating the fastest route to the teleport chambers, which were at the end of a long corridor and a long series of rooms, having been built far from the rest of the facility to avoid accidents.

With no one in sight, the group started running, Shrew leading the posse. He heard the little Pokémon chatter excitedly behind him, and as much as it hurt to admit that, being admired by them felt good. As Shrew took a moment to look over his accomplishments, he was very impressed himself. So many hours trapped in a hell zone like this, even after a trip to a literal hell, and yet here he stood, alive, along with a bunch of others. Sure, it was less than Shrew had wanted, but it was enough.

Maybe, just maybe, they could get through this after all...

And then the zombie humans came.

From the corridor leading to the teleportation chambers, at least seven humans similarly pale and greenish with glowing red eyes like the ones Pachirisu had controlled shambled towards them, armed with knives, pieces of debris and other sharp or blunt objects that they swung around mindlessly.

"What the actual f**k?!" Krane screamed.

"The glitch Pokémon can probably control them!" Shrew yelled. "We can't let them stop us from getting through! Attack!"

Quill and Litleo launched simultaneous flamethrower at the human shells while Shinx shocked them with electricity. They managed to bring down one and hit several others, but the shells felt no pain and had no reason to stop.

"Watch out for their weapons and just bring them down, don't stay behind and finish them!" Shrew ordered.

The five Pokémon obeyed, and instead of using their special attacks, they pounced, tackled, bit, scratch and kicked the humans with all their might, making sure to attack their legs or sneak around their backs, dodging their weapons. Shrew, Quill and Bagon soon joined the action, Shrew effortlessly bringing down one with his claws while using his tail to fight another. Even Krane helped the Pokémon from afar, throwing whatever he could get on his hands at the humans.

"Shrew, Quill, go!" Sandile yelled as it used its tail to knock down one human shell. "We'll take care of these guys!"

"No way!" Shrew argued as he dodged when one of the humans tried to hit him with a baseball bat. "We go together! We're getting out of here!"

"You don't understand, Shrew," said the Skiddo. "We don't want to leave."

"All five of us were born in this place!" Litleo yelled. "We had a life here, and with the humans gone, we can make it a better one!"

"Yeah!" agreed the Rattata. "There's nothing for us out there. Just-"

The Rattata was silenced when a human managed to hit it with a club, sending the little rat Pokémon flying away. Hissing in rage, Sandile attacked the human, sinking its teeth into the human's arm and dragging it down. Litleo made eye contact with Shrew, giving him a determined, intense look.

"All we can do is make sure you guys can escape!" it said. "Call it our little reward for all you've done for us, Shrew!"

"But I didn't-"

Quill silenced him. "Thank you," she told Litleo. "We won't waste this opportunity!"

"Just don't forget us!" Litleo said cheerfully and pounced an another human.

"Well I'm getting out," Bagon said. "I wanna see what freedom is like!

"Bagon, look out!" Shrew yelled suddenly.

Bagon didn't dodge in time – one of the humans with a sharp piece of debris managed to stab the little dragon-type in the back. The Skiddo tackled the human to the ground while Krane rushed over to catch Bagon before it fell down and hit its head on the floor.

"GO!" Litleo yelled.

Shrew, Quill and Krane dashed towards the teleport chambers and didn't look back.


	8. Entanglement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Shrew and the strike team are limited to one last resort for escape: using the teleport that caused the whole mess to begin with.

**Chapter Eight: _Entanglement_**

Shrew, Quill and Krane, who was still carrying Bagon, made it to the offices of the teleportation division, Krane locking the door behind him. Shrew and Quill stopped to take a breath, but Krane carefully lowered Bagon on one of the desks and grabbed his first aid kit.

"There's no time for a break!" Krane yelled at the two Pokémon. "Block that door before the glitches get through!"

Shrew and Quill obeyed, Shrew feeling almost nauseated by the guilt. He blocked the entrance to a safe place, fully knowing there were five Pokémon fighting out there to save him. Was he really worth all that? He already had the blood of two Pokémon on his paws – not to mention all those Pokémon who died in the fire he saved Quill from.

As Shrew and Quill finished putting heavy crates full of metal appliances in front of the door, they ran to the professor to see how Bagon was doing. But Krane had already given up on the dragon, having merely put his finger on her neck to feel her pulse. Shrew and Quill didn't have to ask the results as they saw Krane burying his face in his hands, groaning quietly.

"I promised her," Shrew muttered to himself. "I told her how much she would enjoy life once she would get outside."

Krane left the Bagon with an oddly determined look on his face, marching up to one of the computers and started typing furiously. Quill looked around the offices.

"There's two more doors here," Quill pointed out, referring two one reinforced steel door and one regular door.

"There's apparently another entrance into this office," Krane said in the midst of typing. "The heavy door goes to further chambers. We have to go through many more doors until we reach the teleport. They had to shield the workers here from radiation... DAMN IT!"

Shrew and Quill flinched as Krane slammed the desk next to the computer with his hand, making the computer shake. He grimaced and started to rub his temples.

"We need someone with more technical skills than me to calibrate this thing," Krane groaned. "Someone has tampered with the settings. If I don't set it right... well, there's a good chance we all get blown up or vaporized or something by the energy burst."

Shrew felt panic creeping up on him. Everything he had worked so hard for hinged on Krane being able to use the teleport – and now he was telling him that it couldn't be done? And with the zombie humans and glitch Pokémon almost literally knocking on their door, what could he do? He tried not to hear the sounds of the five little Pokémon as they still fought in the hallway, but the screams and roars wormed their way into his brain anyway. Quill was valiantly trying to build a barricade to block the other door while Shrew just stood still. He had promised to get her out of there.

He had promised.

"Those humans from the strike team," Krane said suddenly and snapped his fingers. "There was a technical expert in the team. She managed to hack into the controls of the doors. If she can get access to any notes left by the workers here..."

Shrew groaned.

"Do we really have to wait for them?" he said. "They could be dead for all we know!"

"I can't think of any other way," Krane said anxiously. "Though, unless we hurry soon, Quill will..."

Shrew stared at Krane.

"Will what?" he asked.

Krane nervously adjusted his translating device, buying himself time as he tried to answer, but only sputtering sounds came out of his mouth.

"Will _what,_ professor?" Shrew asked again. "You cured her, right? Managed to stop the degeneration?"

"Shrew," Quill said suddenly, Shrew noticing she had sneaked behind his back. "He already told me everything he found – I asked him to be honest, and he was."

"What did he find?" Shrew asked her, but didn't want to raise his voice at her, focusing his current frustration on Krane instead. "What did you find?!"

Krane licked his lips and wrung his hands before answering. "The reason why Quill can use her attacks now... I managed to give her a temporary boost with a drug specifically created for that purpose – but I don't have enough knowledge about Pokémon medicine to completely reverse the effects. Slow them down, maybe, but even that's not for certain."

"Is she going to make it?!" Shrew yelled.

Krane sighed. "I don't know. Yes, no, maybe? Shrew, I have to confess – I wasn't entirely honest with you before. Yes, I tried to talk to the administrator about the cure, but after he rejected it... I didn't really work on it that much. You have to understand," Krane said quickly when Shrew scowled at him. "My work took precedent! I kept telling myself that I would find a cure later, but Kaminko said there was no time to slow down our work. I... I'm sorry."

Shrew, Quill and Krane just stood in silence. Krane leaning against the barricade at the door, awkwardly shuffling as far from Shrew as he could manage. Quill didn't look sad, scared or otherwise affected by what Krane had said. She just went back to trying to barricade the other door, while Shrew remained still, glaring at Krane.

"I thought you were different," Shrew said coldly. "Can't you tell anything about her condition?"

"No, I'm sorry!" Krane said again as he wrung his hands even faster. "All I know is that the effect of the shot I gave her won't last long. Shrew, she _wanted_ me to do everything I could to make sure she could still fight. That's all I could do."

Krane took off his glasses as he sighed deep and rubbed his eyes, the day's events having exhausted him to his limit.

"Shrew," he said. "I understand if you-"

Krane was drowned out by the door and the barricade suddenly getting shattered from behind him, skeletal talons grabbing Krane by the shoulder and attempting to pull him through the door. Shrew and Quill froze in horror as they saw the head of a skeletal Aerodactyl through the hole in the door, accompanied by smaller glitch Pokémon. Krane kicked and struggled against the Aerodactyl, its talons having dug deep into his shoulders and spilling blood on his lab coat. For several seconds, Shrew just stared at the struggling the scientist, who stared back, not crying for help or even shouting in pain, just growling as he struggled against the skeleton Aerodactyl's strength.

Cursing to himself, Shrew extended his claws and lunged at the door, ready to break each one of his claws if it meant getting the Aerodactyl to let go. But before he could do that, the Aerodactyl spread its wings and pulled Krane through the hole it made. The last thing Shrew saw on Krane's face was a look of sad resignation before the professor disappeared from sight.

Shrew backed from the door – the other glitch Pokémon were still pounding at it, trying to make the hole Krane was pulled out of even bigger. Shrew ran to Quill, and together, the two Pokémon quickly fled through the reinforced steel door and further into the chambers.

**~o~O~o~**

One level above, Wes, who was carrying the wounded Jasmine on his back, along with Jasmine's Mawile, burst through the emergency doors and down the stairs leading to where the escape pods were located. The whole building shook again as Wes carefully descended the stairs.

_Has it started already?_

Finally, Wes, Jasmine and Mawile made it to the escape pod chambers, only finding out that four of the five had already been launched, three people ready to climb into the last one that two Rocket Grunts were already in. There was Domino, the scientist from the tram tunnels and a grunt who was struggling with Domino, attempting to squeeze into the pod.

"Ms. Domino, please, this place is about to blow!" the grunt argued as he was being pulled away by Domino. "Please, there's room for one more!"

"Sorry," Domino said as she kicked the grunt square in the chest, knocking him to the floor. "Much as I hate to say it, this scientist is worth more than you are now, and this is a pod for four. Get in, Gideon!"

The scientist obeyed hastily, the grunts already in the pod glaring at him. The grunt tried to get up, but Domino stabbed him in the chest with her tulip, putting the grunt permanently out of commission.

Domino swept her hair back and turned to look at Wes, acting completely cavalier as she put her other leg inside the pod.

"Ah, so you're back on you feet, Orrean!" she said. "I'm impressed – most of our people were killed by that skeleton monster. I didn't give you enough credit, it seems."

"Jasmine, could you please?" Wes asked Jasmine without bothering to answer Domino.

"Oh, right, sorry," Jasmine said weakly. "Mawile, use Iron He-"

But Domino was faster and managed to charge and stab Mawile with her tulip as well. The shock would have probably killed a human, but Mawile was merely knocked out. Pointing the weapon at Wes and Jasmine, Domino climbed back into the pod.

"Too bad it had to end this way, though," she remarked. "If you manage to survive, I'm looking forward to testing your endurance again."

Grinning, Domino closed the pod's door. Wes stared as the pod was launched into a tube that apparently connected into the ocean somehow, a dumbstruck expression on his face as he was stuck in a room with the smoking body of a Rocket Grunt. Jasmine didn't react, just raised her arm weakly and returned Mawile to its ball.

"At least you tried," she told the Pokémon.

Wes let out a surprised shout as the building shook again, his hand almost slipping and letting go of Jasmine, whose breathing got more shallow.

"Okay, crap, looks like we have to use the teleport anyway," Wes said. "Do you know how to use it?"

"' _From the notes of Dr. Faust, head of the teleportation division_ '", she quoted monotonously. "When I got into the security footage, I combed through all of their files. I felt that one was relevant – she left detailed instructions on how to calibrate the teleport properly. I took the opportunity to memorize them... I think."

Wes ignored the last remark. "You're a genius, Jas!" he praised and turned around, groaning at the thought of having to climb more stairs with a person on his back.

"No, Wes, wait!" Jasmine said, forcing Wes to stop. "I can calibrate it, but I don't know how to control all that energy. We would have to get to their computers, and we'll never make it in this state."

"...flank me in the Alph," Wes grumbled. "Okay, what's the worse that can happen if you can't 'control the energy' or whatever?"

"Worse?" Jasmine asked calmly. "We all get vaporized and this entire archipelago will be irradiated, meaning there's a chance hundreds, maybe thousands of others will die, too."

Wes wanted to scream his lungs out in frustration at that. _Are you f***ing kiddin me?_ _This was not what I signed on for! All I wanted was a big ol' pile of..._

"Wait," Wes said and crouched, Jasmine's weight starting to wear him down.

He let go of Jasmine for a moment, allowing her to hang on him by her arms, using his own hands to operate the Xtransceiver. His plan was a long shot, but he also knew the people he were about to call could show up and move the entire mountain away in minutes if they wanted to. Rejoicing as he managed to pick up a signal, Wes made the call.

" _Ah, I was getting worried for a second_ ," the smug, anonymous mystery man who had called him earlier spoke, picking up almost immediately. " _I understand you were able to get the Griseous Orb and Dr. Kaminko out safely. Good work._ "

"Yeah, you have that stupid thing now, I bet you're happy!" Wes said quickly. "Listen, this whole place is falling apart and we're about to get blown to kingdom come! Whoever you are, you have to delay the bombings!"

" _I'm afraid that's not in my power. I'm not even close to them, for that matter – they're heading your way as we speak. They will commence their operation at 5 AM just as the operation parameters say_."

"Not in your... then get us a ride out of here! Don't try to pull anything on me, I _know_ you can do it!"

" _Well, I'm not saying that_ can't _be arranged."_ The man's irreverent, lazy way of speaking made Wes' blood boil. " _But, I do have a note of concern. You remember what we talked about earlier. I assume some of your teammates are still with you_."

"Well... yes, one of them is," Wes admitted – for all he knew, the man could see him as they spoke, laughing from the comfort of his office. "What does that-"

" _I understand your time is running a bit short, so I won't resort to silly euphemisms. We told you to eliminate all witnesses if you wanted your reward_."

"I'm not killing anyone!" Wes yelled – he could hear Jasmine breathing in his ear again. "Look, you got what you wanted, and almost everyone here died anyway! An escape pod with Team Rocket members inside got out just a minute ago, so I don't think it matters who else leaves! I've worked with you people before, I _know_ what you want. Just get us out of here and... I don't care, you don't have to pay me, I'll become you personal whipping boy, I'll work for you for free, _just get us the hell out_!"

" _Hmm... you do make a good point and we_ do _need people like you in our ranks. Then again, I'm sure you understand that it's better to be safe than sorry – and, to be honest, your tone is kind of getting on my nerves. I'm sorry it had to be this way. Goodbye_."

"Listen you-"

But all Wes could hear next was static. Soon enough, the signal was lost and Wes couldn't call the man again. His hands shaking, Wes tried to select another frequency and attempted to contact Marshal. By now, he _had_ to have delivered his package already.

But it was no use. The signal was being blocked, and after a while, he lost it, too. Wes threw the Xtransceiver away, a feeling of bleak helplessness filling him almost entirely.

"Wes," Jasmine said quietly. "I don't know if this means anything, but... thank you. Are you okay?"

"...yes," Wes said sharply. "Better than okay. Jasmine, you said you memorized those notes entirely, right?"

"Um, yes. I mean, almost."

"That'll have to do. Hold on tight – we're getting out of here."

**~o~O~o~**

"Damn it, we're not getting out of here," Hilda grumbled to herself as her Emboar punched through another zombified human.

The arrival of the skeleton Aerodactyl on the level below didn't go unnoticed by Hilda and Yellow, who got separated from each other when the monster launched its Hyper Beam attack, completely leveling part of the floor and blocking access to the elevator. Hilda and Emboar were now fighting their way through the monstrosities, aided by the fact that they were mostly too busy fighting a sudden swarm of small, weaker Pokémon that attempted to overpower the glitch Pokémon with sheer numbers.

Hilda's face was covered in sweat, dust, blood and various other grime, but she pressed on, gritting her teeth as she made her way towards the room she left the hostages in.

 _Screw Lance_ , she thought. _Screw orders, screw the greater good, I'm here and I have to save these peopl-_

_Shit._

The door she had intentionally left unlocked had been blown to bits. Blood had splattered all over the room as Hilda observed the signs of combat. The office she had left the hostages in was practically demolished, desks reduced to splinter, the metal chairs mangled into an unrecognizable state, couches and cushions blown to bits and the whole macabre sight decorated with various dead hostages and Pokémon littered all over the room. Hilda cringed when she noticed there were less dead hostages than there had been alive ones when she left – either they made a desperate and pointless run for it, or they had been turned...

Hilda shook her head. It was awful to think about, but that wasn't what unsettled her. The sheer realization of something far worse made Hilda double over and vomit, her Emboar looking at her in concern but unable to help her.

She had allowed this to happen. Buck and Cal dying, that she could handle. She could blame it on the circumstances. But these people...

Even after throwing up, Hilda still felt a sense of stomach-turning nausea in her, trembling all over as she stood surrounded by bodies. But she had to snap out of it when Emboar cried out in surprised. Another skeletal Pokémon, a Kabutops like Jasmine had mentioned, stood near what used to be the door. Emboar prepared to fight it, dodging as the Kabutops swung its scythe – and to Hilda's horror, the wall the scythe hit broke apart even before Kabutops had touched it.

"Emboar, back up!" Hilda ordered the Pokémon, who narrowly dodged a second slash from the Kabutops.

Hilda recalled the Emboar and fled the room through the other door, one that was fortunately still intact, and without thinking, charged towards another office nearby, the Kabutops managing to keep up after her, making up for its lack of speed by taking long steps. Hilda turned to fire her blaster at it, but at this point, she could have done more damage to it by screaming angrily.

"Hydro Cannon!"

Hilda didn't see who called out the attack, but she recognized it immediately. An enormous ball of water hit the Kabutops and knocked it several yards backwards before exploding with immense pressure, drenching the entire corridor.

The attacker was a Samurott, whose brown-haired trainer covered in dust limped closely behind it. Without hesitation, Hilda signaled them to storm into the office, closing and locking the door behind her as they did so. Taking a deep breath, Hilda smiled at Hilbert.

"...thanks," was the best she could do now.

"I figured that Aerodactyl would be coming here next," Hilbert panted almost deliriously as he held on his stomach. "It blew us right up, but I got up, just like I always do... Hilda?"

"What is it?"

"Can you catch me?" Hilbert mumbled before falling on the ground, revealing that his hands and shirt were soaked in blood.

Hilda ran to him, checking the wound on his stomach – it was deep and wide, practically running the length of his torso, as if something had cut him there. He was also covered in burns, cuts and bruises from earlier and his face was getting drained of its color alarmingly quickly.

_No, damn it, no! I deserve it, but don't let this happen to him!_

"Well," Hilbert said, blood coming out of his mouth as well, "at least we completed the mission. That's all that mattered, right?"

"No!" Hilda shouted, not sure why she was screaming into a wounded person's ear. "We matter too, Hilbert! Dying here just for the sake of that crappy artifact would be the most pointless thing ever. Now get up!"

Hilbert gave Hilda a pained smile, but only moved to point a Poké Ball at Samurott. Hilda glanced at the water Pokémon – it was wounded, though not nearly as bad as its trainer. Moving slowly, Hilbert recalled the Pokémon and handed the bloodstained Poké Ball to Hilda.

"Take care of Samurott," he pleaded, his hands shaking as he dropped the ball on Hilda's hand. "Tell it that-"

"Oh, shut the hell up," Hilda snapped. "I'll hold on to it until we get you fixed up. Where's Bianca?"

"Hopefully in a better shape than me," Hilbert groaned. "I have no idea. I got split up after the beam blew up most of the level above us. I didn't see anyone so I came back here to help you."

"How wonderfully stupid of you," Hilda said and looked around the office. There was a back door, and next to it, a map with a large red dot saying 'you are here'. "Hilbert, look!" she said, pointing at the map. "Through that door, we'll get to the employee locker rooms and the warehouses... and there's a door leading to the teleport chambers in there. C'mon!"

Hilda got up and lifted Hilbert up roughly with one arm, ignoring his pained cry. She helped him move closer to the sliding door, opened it with a push of a button and peeked into the cold, dark stone corridor before her. She could hear faint groans no doubt coming from glitch Pokémon from there, so she let Emboar out of its ball.

"Go a bit further and survey the situation, but if there are any, don't let them see you!" Hilda instructed her Pokémon, who grunted in acknowledgment and did as told just as Hilda started to hear frantic banging and more glitch Pokémon noises coming from the door she had just locked – it wouldn't hold out long. "And not a moment too soon!"

Hilda moved past the threshold, but Hilbert stayed still, shaking Hilda off him and leaning on the wall by the doorway, clutching his stomach again. Hilda turned to glare at him.

"You're seriously wounded, there's no time for this!" she snapped.

"It's a pretty long way to the teleport from here," Hilbert observed as he glanced at the map. "That corridor goes around this entire level."

"Well, we should get moving, then!" Hilda said. "Come on."

"I still have my Pokétch," Hilbert said. "I can... slow them down a bit."

"Yeah, cool, but keep your head down while I escort you through, leave the fighting to Emboar, so-"

"Hilda," Hilbert wheezed. "I didn't mean that. There's no way I'll make it that far. And if you stop to drag me around, you'll end up the same way."

"You've lost a lot of blood!" Hilda said and tried to forcibly drag Hilbert over the threshold. "You're not making any sense, now come on!"

"Listen to me for once!" Hilbert yelled, though doing so caused him more stomach pain and almost made him double over. When he recovered, he wiped his mouth and looked at Hilda, managing a small smile. "Sorry... you know, when Wes came on board and talked about how we could die here, I didn't take him too seriously. Even when we realized just how bad things were down here, I just assumed we'd pull through anyway, and _if_ I had to go, you and I would save the others in some heroic fashion, sacrificing ourselves for the greater-" Hilbert stopped to cringe and hold his stomach again.

"Fine, if that's how it has to be!" Hilda shouted, her eyes welling up. "No matter where we're going, we're doing it together!"

Hilbert just shook his head. "...but only now I realize how stupid my little fantasy was. If this is how things are, one of us has to live on."

"No... No... Hilbert, I..." Hilda closed her eyes and clenched her fists, wanting so hard to confess, tell him how she felt about Lance's orders, about what she did to those people, how she felt when Cal had died, but the shame was overbearing. "I'm not worth it," Hilda managed to spit out.

"Yes you are," Hilbert said and mashed the button that closed the door.

Hilda gasped and opened her eyes as she heard to door get locked and the other door give in, hearing muffled sounds of the glitch Pokémon storming into the room.

_No..._

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Floe Island Harbor, Sevii Islands** _

It was 4:17 AM. Marshal and Dock had finished delivering Kaminko and the Griseous Orb to four stoic agents who all wore identical suits and sunglasses. One was rushing Dr. Kaminko into a helicopter waiting near the harbor, while another weighed the Griseous Orb on his hand.

"It's lighter than we assumed," the agent said flatly.

"Yeah, whatever," Marshal said quickly. "Look, I told you already, we _have_ to get back. Our people are still stuck in there! And have you forgot about the hostages?"

"Too risky, sir," the agent told Marshal calmly as he put the Griseous Orb into a large briefcase which he then sealed with an electronic lock and handcuffed into his own hand. "You'll be in the center of the explosion by the time it takes you to get there."

"No, we won't, Dock got us out there in record time, and that was _while_ dodging Team Rocket's artillery!" Marshal argued. "We don't need your permission anyway. Dock, get it fired up!"

Two agents standing behind Marshal aimed their weapons at him while the one with the briefcase did the same to Dock, who meekly put his hands up.

"The submarine is Pokémon Association property," the agent holding the briefcase said. "I'm afraid building a new one is costlier and more time-consuming than training a new strike team. As a precaution, we have prevented them from contacting you."

Marshal glared at the agent for a while before roaring and punching one of the agents behind him off the pier and into the water. The two other agents tackled Marshal and wrestled him down, but as even they weren't enough, the third one and even the helicopter's pilot had to step in to subdue him.

**~o~O~o~**

Back at Navel Rock, Wes felt his legs burning. He had never run as fast as he did now, ignoring the massive battle between small captive Pokémon, the glitch Pokémon and zombie-like humans going on level B3, only caring about the teleporter. Despite having to carry Jasmine, he dashed past the hallways, keeping his head low as Pokémon attacks and debris flew all over the place. In the flashing lights of battle and the inhumane noises all the Pokémon made while wounding and maiming each other was a perfect cover for Wes and Jasmine, but while the combatants didn't care about them, it was ridiculously easy to get caught in a crossfire.

The hallway shook again as Wes felt another tremor, but he didn't even bother checking how much time he had until the bombs dropped. The floor was slippery with blood, the bursts of fire, electricity and energy flying around burned his and Jasmine's body, but nothing could stop the two.

That was until something grabbed Wes' leg. Wes and Jasmine both fell, Jasmine getting hurled against a wall and Wes feeling splitting pain in his nose as he cracked it on the floor. Wiping his face clear of blood, Wes didn't care what had grabbed him, he simply kicked it away, hearing a satisfying otherworldly squeal, thinking he had hurt a glitch Pokémon.

But the glitch didn't mind the attack, but instead lunged at Wes again, exposing its wide, shapeless mouth and long rows of sharp teeth.

Wes covered his head in desperation, but didn't feel an impact. Instead, he felt the glitch being bounced back and forced to scuttle away. Daring to look, he noticed Yellow standing next to him, being perhaps the only person in the damn place without any signs of injury on them.

"Can you walk?" Yellow asked Wes as they held their hand up, casting a protective shield around Wes and Jasmine.

"Yeah, yeah," Wes replied with a wave of his hand as he pinched his nose. "It's not like a frickin' nosebleed will stop me at this point! Jasmine needs your help more than me."

"I can't heal her and keep up the shield at the same time," Yellow said matter-of-factly. "Can you get her to the office next to you, please?"

Wes nodded and didn't question the order. Wes grabbed Jasmine's arms and roughly pulled her into the office behind him. Slowly, Yellow backed into the room after them, locked the door and finally let their hand drop and taking a breath.

Realizing that they were in one of the offices of the teleportation department, Jasmine wasted no time dragging herself towards one of the computers. Pitying her as she struggled to get herself up without using her legs, Wes lifted her into the computer chair. Jasmine muttered a hasty thank-you before she started typing.

"Where's Hilda?" Wes asked Yellow, who had knelt and started to apparently meditate – Wes didn't feel like questioning that at the moment.

"Unfortunately, we got separated," Yellow replied serenely. "I presume the same goes for Bianca and Hilbert?"

Wes shook his head. "Hilbert, yeah, but Bianca is dead, as are Rosa and Nate," he said. "And we didn't find any hostages up there – if any were alive, well, after that blast, I doubt... goddamnit."

Yellow's meditations weren't bothered, however. They just simply said: "I see."

"I... I wanted to save them," Wes continued, having been wanting to spill his thoughts out for the longest time now. "Arceus, how I wanted to save them! But I'm useless! They should have never brought me along! When I met all of you I thought I finally... but what does it matter now?"

Yellow opened their eyes. Watching Wes from a lotus position on a floor, they tilted their head slightly.

"You want to atone," Yellow observed. "You've done bad things in your past – unintentionally, perhaps, but you are aware of them."

Wes wasn't surprised Yellow knew. "Thanks for the privacy invasion," he grunted. "I wish I could read minds like that."

"I wouldn't have needed to, anyway," Yellow said. "The way you spoke and acted revealed all I had to know."

"Fan-friggin-tastic."

"It is still not too late," Yellow said, even smiling during a situation like this.

"The body count here says otherwise!" Wes snapped, his patience with Yellow starting to dwindle. What use was going to the Distortion World if they were all going to die anyway?

"Yes, don't get me wrong," Yellow said calmly. "I regret that this had to happen. I blame myself too – perhaps I should have been more honest with you from the beginning. I didn't just come here to prevent the Griseous Orb from falling into Team Rocket's hands, you know."

Wes looked at Yellow. He had wanted to hear them tell him more about themselves ever since the Distortion World, but things had obviously come up. Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself to care nearly as much now.

"The one who set me on this path, Red," Yellow explained, "disappeared a few months ago. He was investigating the Pokémon League he had resigned from and the organization they answer to, the Pokémon Association, as well as the 'Committee', as they call themselves. He uncovered some extremely sensitive information about them before disappearing, the most urgent one related to the Griseous Orb and the secrets of this facility. I knew members of this strike team were about to be assigned to guard this place, so I had to join, but with Red gone, we lacked a charismatic leader, and only Cal was willing to risk themselves and infiltrate this unit."

"You're doing this to continue his legacy," Wes reasoned. "Well, sounds like a real hero, that guy."

"I'm doing this," Yellow pressed, "for the good of everyone, all humans, all Pokémon and myself, too. It would take too long to explain the details, but the Griseous Orb _can not_ fall in the wrong hands. I don't mean just the beast of the Distortion World, Giratina, but any human could use it as a potent weapon – not to mention attract Giratina's wrath."

"And we gave it to those assholes," Wes grumbled.

 _Of course_ , Wes thought. _No matter what, it always comes down to the same thing._ But even Wes had never believed the Committee would sacrifice dozens of lives to get their hands on something – especially when those lives could be of some use to them. Whatever the Griseous Orb was...

"You didn't, actually," Yellow smiled.

Wes stared at them dumbstruck and even Jasmine stopped typing when Yellow pulled something from the bag they kept hefting around. Wes' jaw practically dropped when Yellow pulled the octagonal, gold-colored artifact from their bag, letting it shine brightly over the room.

"But," Wes stuttered. "How – which – how did..."

"It wasn't easy," Yellow said. "Me and Cal made a copy of it a long time ago, hoping to switch it to the original once we got guarding duty here. We had to scrape every sketch and description ever made about the artifact, and then carry it around without anyone noticing for hours on end. Cal slipped it into the bag he put the explosives in before we went through the portal. And thanks to my shield, even the glitch Pokémon didn't detect it while I carried it around in the Distortion World."

Jasmine's eyes were wide as she stared at the real, brightly glowing Griseous Orb for a while, but soon went back to typing without saying a thing. Wes still couldn't believe it, but just seeing it lightened the feeling of hopelessness immensely.

"This is-" Wes was about to say, but was interrupted by loud screaming. "Hey, do you guys hear that?"

While Jasmine kept typing, Wes and Yellow walked to the other side of the room, to another door that led to another part of the level. Wes unlocked it and saw a dark, stone corridor open before him – and one filled with glitch Pokémon and one human plowing their way through them, screaming all the while.

It was Hilda. Wes watched in awe as she punched and kicked the monsters out of her way while using her blaster to keep others at bay, all the while making her way towards them. As her blaster finally run out of energy, she still didn't stop, instead using it to club the monsters away.

Wes and Yellow ran into the corridor, Yellow once again extending their hand and creating a shield around them that repelled the glitch Pokémon. Wes grabbed Hilda, who wordlessly collapsed on Wes' arms, and helped her walk back into the office, Yellow following suit and keeping the shield up until they were all safely in and the door was locked. Without saying anything, Yellow focused their attention on a heavy crate full of electronics, using their powers to levitate it in front of the door.

"...the others," Hilda mumbled when she finally realized she was safe. She grabbed Wes by the collar of his badly burnt shirt. "Where are they? Where are-"

"We are the others, Hilda," Wes told her bluntly. "We're the only ones left."

Hearing that, Hilda's face turned blank and expressionless. She simply nodded at Wes and walked over to the desk Jasmine was working on. Jasmine looked up at Hilda in a mix of concern and fear, but Hilda just sat next to the table and leaned on it, wiping some blood off her face. Her arm was bleeding badly as well, but she didn't seem to mind. As she closed her eyes, Hilda just muttered one simple phrase:

"Hilbert's dead."

And after that, she fell silent, still breathing and conscious, just worn down by sheer exhaustion. Jasmine resumed her typing.

"Then I believe it's time to go," Yellow said and gave the Griseous Orb to Wes. "As soon as Jasmine is ready, that is. Wes, I want you to have this."

"M-me?!" Wes squealed and backed away. "Hold on, if we ever get out of here, I'm not making myself a damn target with that thing-"

"It'll be a while before they realize they have a fake one on their hands," Yellow said. "Kaminko is the only one who can confirm it for sure, and I'll doubt they will let him handle it after failing to keep it secure here. You'll have plenty of time to hide it before that."

"But why me?" Wes asked. "You're the one with psychic powers and crap."

"It will take several minutes to get the teleport ready," Yellow insisted. "Someone has to stay behind and make sure no glitch Pokémon get through to you."

"No!" Wes yelled. "Enough of this crap – no one else dies here today!"

"I have no intention to die," Yellow said firmly. "And I trust we will meet again. That is, if you're willing to dedicate your life to a purpose now. I can understand if you don't – what I'm about to ask you will be far more dangerous than going to the Distortion World was."

Wes hated himself for this, but slowly and treating it as if it was poisonous, he took the Griseous Orb from Yellow. But he still didn't understand why.

"What purpose?" Wes asked quietly.

"The coming years will be hard," Yellow said. "Giratina will do everything it can to restore its power and return from the Distortion World. Even disposing of the Griseous Orb is only the beginning – and that alone will prove a challenge. If my estimations are correct, it is impossible to destroy it via conventional means."

"Well dang," Wes muttered, "but what I am supposed to-"

"The only way we can even hope to prevent this," Yellow continued, "is by rallying everyone we can under one flag to fight this. To do this, we need people who are willing to fight and spread the word. And even then, there is a condition we must fulfill..."

**~o~O~o~**

Having made their way past another radiation-shielded room, Shrew and Quill started moving objects in front of the door. But even after this, the glitch Pokémon kept pouring in and were soon banging on the door. Shrew had to stop to catch his breath.

"They just keep coming," Shrew panted. "How much further?"

"It shouldn't be too much," Quill said. "Just hold o-"

Quill stopped talking as she sneezed suddenly. Then, before she knew it, her knees buckled and the flames on her back were getting dramatically smaller. Shrew ran over to her.

"What happened?" Shrew asked as he watched Quill tremble.

"Just what you think," Quill grunted, her flames eventually burning out, leaving her back bare. "I think the degeneration is... oh, no..."

"We'll get you fixed up!" Shrew said as he tried to get Quill to stand. "You heard, Krane, right? A Pokémon doctor can-"

"If that's how you interpreted him, you're being pretty optimistic," Quill said weakly. "I took you for a cynic, but I guess all this really changed you, huh?"

"Please, just keep moving!" Shrew pleaded.

"I have to confess something too, Shrew," Quill said. "I don't think there's anything out there for me. The only human I ever knew properly before this turned out to be responsible for my condition."

"Of course there's something!" Shrew snapped. "We'll find it together, right?"

Quill shook her head. She looked up at the ceiling, pointing at it weakly.

As Shrew watched, his ears popped up in surprise. There was a surveillance monitor near the ceiling, and it was showing dozens of small Pokémon just like Shrew and Quill fighting the glitch Pokémon without pause. The Litleo who had helped them was still there, along with plenty of other species Shrew didn't even recognize.

"They're fighting to make this place the home they deserve," Quill said. "I told Krane the same thing while you were gone: if these really are my last moments, then I want to spend them fighting for the same cause."

"They're fighting so we can get out of here!" Shrew argued.

"So _you_ can get out of here," Quill said warmly. "You saved them, and they're paying you back in return. And Shrew..."

"What?" Shrew asked, frightened by what she was about to say next.

"I know you want to blame all humans for this, but don't. You saw it yourself: not all of them are out to use us and hurt us. Giratina was the one who started this all, even if humans are partly to blame. Don't spend your life hating them."

Quill grabbed Shrew's paws and held them softly. Shrew couldn't find the right words. All the fighting he had done to get him and Quill out – had it all come to this?

"You have to go on," she said. "Get out there and keep up the fight – so that maybe one day you don't have to anymore. And most importantly: don't forget about me..."

Quill suddenly powered up, the flames on her back re-ignited. The sudden burst of energy knocked Shrew on his back, and he watched helplessly as Quill blasted one of the doors in the room with a flamethrower attack, creating a hole big enough for her to squeeze through.

"...because I have a feeling this isn't goodbye," Quill finished and dashed away.

Shrew didn't follow her, just watched her slip out of sight, leaving Shrew alone in the cold chamber, his only company the frantic sounds of glitch Pokémon banging on the door. One particularly loud bang alerted him, so he quickly moved into the next chamber, and with tear-filled eyes, sealed the door behind him.

**~o~O~o~**

Yellow had finished their speech. Still holding the Griseous Orb, Wes stared a them with no words to describe how he felt, but all he knew it was a lot of things. Honored, humble, afraid, devastated, frustrated, enraged and Arceus only knew what else. But he couldn't put this to words, just watched Yellow as they waited for him to give his answer.

He looked at the others. Jasmine just stared at him back, while Hilda did the same, only frowning while she did so and most likely not caring as much, having apparently figured out why Wes had the Griseous Orb. Not that Wes could blame her for not caring – he couldn't even get a grip of his own feelings at the moment.

"Time's running out," Yellow reminded.

"Yeah, I know, damn," Wes muttered. "Is... is all that really true?"

"I believe in it – to an extent," Yellow said simply. "That doesn't mean it's necessarily true, but it may be only hope right now. So what do you say?"

"...I guess I can't sleep on this decision," Wes said anxiously. "I... apart from the vagueness issue, that also sounds like it's a one-way trip. But..."

He could see Buck talking wistfully about his life, Cal making a dark observation while smoking a cigarette, Bianca's cheerful face as she stopped to heal their wounds.

"...to have all this happen for nothing would be even worse," Wes said shakily.

He remembered the relief on Rosa's face when Nate had been recovered, and how Hilbert had talked about Hilda like he practically revered her.

"I'll do it," he told Yellow. "I don't care what happens – I'm in."

Yellow smiled. "Thank you. I think you made the right choice. Jasmine?"

"Oh," Jasmine said with a flinch, carefully standing up in attention, Yellow having healed her legs while telling her story to Wes. "I actually finished the calibrations while you were talking. Someone had switched the other end of the teleporter to a warehouse on Chrono Island, then deliberately scrambled the settings. I think I managed to put it back to the teleport on Silph Co. in Saffron, where it was supposed to be."

"Good work," Yellow said. "I have to go now – take care of yourselves. I'll be seeing you, Wes. You can use my bag to carry the orb – I won't need it anymore."

"Uh, sure," Wes said and put the artifact in the bag and swung it on his shoulder. "But I really don't feel right leaving you here like th-"

With a snap, Yellow was gone. Wes shrugged, and together with Jasmine and a quiet Hilda, went through the thick steel door.

The trio passed through several radiation shield chambers on their way, having to make sure to seal the door behind them every time. Finally, after the seventh shield had been closed, Wes, Jasmine and Hilda found themselves in a humongous room mostly dominated by machinery, some kind of platform right in the middle of it.

Jasmine immediately went over to work on a terminal while Hilda sat on the floor, her eyes empty and her expression vacant. Wes' mind was too full of questions to try to comfort her, not that she would accept it, anyway, but had to snap out of it when a steel door at the other end of the room opened.

Wes tensed up, but instead of a glitch or a Rocket Grunt, it turned out to be a small, exhausted Sandshrew – one that Wes recognized immediately.

The feeling seemed mutual, as the moment the Sandshrew noticed Wes, it extended its claws and assumed a fighting stance.

Before it could jump at Wes, however, a deafening sound of explosion from above made everyone's ears ring and caused the entire room to quake. Ignoring the Sandshrew, Wes walked over to the completely passive Hilda and grabbed her arm to see the time from her C-Gear.

"It's still ten minutes before five!" Wes wailed. "I swear, if I get my hands on that bastard who-"

"You mean Lance?" Hilda asked weakly, talking for the first time since she announced Hilbert's death.

"Nah," Wes scoffed. "Lance is just a putz who relayed the orders. I'm talking about the smug prick who had the bright idea to send us all out here in the first place! The whole plan was all of you to complete your mission and then die – I'm pretty sure they had the same in mind for me as well."

"Uh, Wes, not to alarm you, but we a problem," Jasmine said in a tone that made Wes shiver. "I can adjust the calibrations, but we have to route the energy output manually unless we want to see what it feels like to walk on the sun."

"We came too far to let that happen now!" Wes snapped. "How do we do that?"

"Team Rocket really made sure to tear up the place when they came in, so they probably deactivated most of the manual controls," Jasmine said, "but there's an emergency switch over there!"

Jasmine pointed at it – it was a heavy-looking switch that had to be pulled located very high near the ceiling in a narrow crawlspace between some heavy machinery.

"What the hell?!" Wes yelled. "Who designed this place?"

Another explosion drowned out Wes' further rantings and the entire chamber shook even more violently now. Jasmine covered her head as dust fell off the ceiling while Hilda just sat still. Wes' and Shrew's eyes met, Shrew still ready to sink its claws into Wes' neck.

"Listen, little Sandshrew," Wes said calmly. "I know you can understand me, so hear me out: this is no time to fight. I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through, even before this incident happened, and I'm sorry for whatever humans have done to you. I don't know what happened when we got back here through the portal, but I swear I didn't do it on purpose. Do you see that switch over there?"

Shrew glanced at the switch and nodded.

"If you pull it, I swear we can all teleport together," Wes promised. "I trust you – and besides, we won't even have time to pull a fast one on you. The switch just makes sure we don't all go kablooey... right?"

"Yes, in a sense," Jasmine said nervously. "But Wes, that's not all – the energy caused by the teleportation will be rerouted into the facility itself. They didn't have time to fix the machinery after the last time it was used, so combined with the bombing... I don't think this place will last once we go. I'm guessing even the lower levels will collapse..."

Wes pondered Jasmine's words as he looked at Shrew, who stared back intensely.

"That might actually be the only thing that can stop those monsters from getting out," he pointed out.

"Yes, but... Yellow," Jasmine reminded.

"I know!" Wes snapped. "They had to know about this. They had to have a backup plan ready! Yellow just couldn't use it, because if they left with the Griseous Orb, they'd be the first one the Committee will go after..."

"If you say so," Jasmine said. "I hope they're okay, though."

"Well, Sandshrew," Wes told the Pokémon. "Go and flip the switch. We're counting on you."

But the Pokémon didn't budge. Instead, it narrowed its eyes and flattened its ears, as if it was ready to pounce on Wes. Looking straight into its eyes, Wes realized something.

"You have friends still here, right?" Wes asked the Pokémon, who looked surprised. "We lost people, too – important people," he glanced at Hilda. "But if you're here, that means they want you to go on and save yourself. I can't say I'll know what's gonna happen to them – but I know they wouldn't want you to die."

Another explosion, this one the biggest one yet. The machinery and computers around the room shook dangerously.

"If you don't do it now, we're all going to die!" Wes told the Sandshrew. "None of us are fit to climb and none of us certainly fit into that. You're the only one who can... please!"

The Sandshrew stared at Wes for a few seconds more, but with a pained squeak, it obeyed. It ran to the machinery, climbed up them effortlessly and flipped the switch. The machinery whirred to life, and the Sandshrew was quick to return, its black eyes damp with tears.

"You did the right thing," Wes told the Pokémon. "Come on!"

Wes dragged the uncooperative Hilda with him to the platform, followed by the Sandshrew. Jasmine put in a few more commands, but when another explosion boomed above them, she quickly limped over to them and joined them on the platform.

Little by little, all the machines around them were starting and the platform below them was sparkling and emitting a bright light. Wes, Jasmine and the Sandshrew looked nervously as the steel doors leading into the room started to give in as glitch Pokémon were banging outside them, trying to force their way in. Hilda just sat on the platform with no regard to what was happening. Then, a mechanical voice spoke through the loudspeakers:

" _Teleport activated. Beginning transfer in five. Four. Three. Two-_ "

Both steel doors were forced open by the skeletal Kabutops and Aerodactyl, followed by a bunch of other monstrosities, but just then, a bright white light surrounded Wes, Hilda, Jasmine and Sandshrew. As an enormous burst of energy filled the room, they were gone.


	9. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Shrew and the others as they left the facility?

_**Epilogue** _

_**One day later...** _

_**Location: Aspertia City, Unova** _

Marshal stepped into a finely furnished office, stopping in front of the desk and saluting the young male executive with long, dark hair and glasses, who casually kept his feet on the table while shifting through some documents. It took a while for the executive to take notice of Marshal, who was forced to stand attention for a while.

"...Matthews, Cal, Nate, oh, even poor Bianca Blanc," the executive mumbled to himself before finally taking note of Marshal. "Ah, Commander Marshal! You were released from captivity, I see. I hope we learned to control our temper."

Marshal didn't respond. Aside from a band-aid on his forehead, he had no wounds or bruises on him from the scuffle earlier, but that's only because it took the power of four agents and a helicopter pilot to subdue him and use a taser on him before they put him in lockdown for the night.

"I was going through personnel files for the Beta team," the executive informed casually after sipping some coffee. "Terrible waste, overall. Same as these scientists. Losing such useful people makes me wonder if we paid too much for this, after all..."

Marshal didn't respond, though he stopped saluting and just merely stood still, staring at the wall over the executive and trying to restrain himself. Marshal knew full well that this young suit had planned the entire operation from beginning, and was the one who suggested using the strike team as security for the facility before the Team Rocket and glitch Pokémon invasions happened.

"Doctor Faust, Professor Krane, Professor Barret, Dr. Gideon, Lanette," the executive listed. "And that's just for the high-ranking ones. Oh well," he said and tossed the files away to grab some new ones. "At least the Alpha team fared a little better. It was a good call sending Mr. Wes Marston in, wouldn't you agree? Of course, the fact that you were there to give them some personal encouragement helped them."

Marshal had to control his tongue. _Just a few more minutes_... And after that, Marshal would see to it he wouldn't work for the likes of him again.

"Buck, Rosa, even Hilbert... hmm, I don't recall the cleanup crew finding this 'Amarillo's' body," the executive pointed out. "Yet your report lists 'Amarillo' as KIA."

"It is possible that very little... _remained_ of 'Amarillo', sir," Marshal said quietly. "The teleportation unleashed enormous amounts of energy that could have destroyed everything in the vicinity. Thankfully, it also destroyed the so-called 'glitch Pokémon' the report mentioned."

"Yes, I was getting to that," the executive mumbled and took a bite of an apple. "That wouldn't have been so easy to cover up, wouldn't you agree? The cleanup crew found plenty of dead ones, but nothing we can't dispose of. So you know who got away, then?"

"Only three people and a Pokémon went through the teleport," Marshal informed. "All three have been identified and they ended up near Saffron City."

"And a Pokémon, you say?" the executive said with a raise of an eyebrow. "Hmm, my reports don't match that, but I assume it belonged to one of them. So, how are they? Let's start with our favorite gym leader, and I say that as one myself."

Marshal had to try to not to roll his eyes. "Jasmine's injuries were the most minor – she just said her legs were 'healed' somehow back there. When I visited her, she immediately asked to resign from the unit. I signed the papers and she was moved to Olivine City Hospital earlier today as a final favor from us. She will probably be resuming her gym leader duties."

The executive nodded. "It's for the best – standard surveillance for this one, nothing _too_ invasive. And the illustrious Lieutenant?"

"Hilda is still in Saffron General," Marshal said. "Her injuries were the worst of the lot, and she has either been unable or unwilling to talk yet."

"Someone will visit her later," the executive said nonchalantly. "And she's tough – I'm sure we'll enjoy her presence again later."

"Sir, if you don't mind me making a personal observation," Marshal said, a slight edge in his voice, "Hilda just lost some very important people-"

"People dear to her, yes, yes, I know," the executive interrupted. "Believe me, I know her better than you do. I was the one who lobbied for her promotion and helped her got this job in the first place, not that she is aware of it. A favor for a friend, you could say. I'm sure you agree that she deserves it, hmm?"

"Sir?"

"So, what about our mystery man?" the executive asked as he put Hilda's file away. "Looks like he performed well enough."

"Surveillance cameras spotted him briefly at Saffron General yesterday," Marshal said. "We haven't been able to keep track of him since, as he's not one of our troops."

"We'll find him," the executive assured. "Good work, Commander Marshal. We'll call you when your services are needed again. For now, rest and enjoy yourself."

That was the last straw.

"With all due respect," Marshal said tremulously. "I won't do either of those things. I didn't just lose troops there – I lost a group of friends."

With a hurried salute, Marshal stormed out of the room, unable to hide his tears anymore.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Olivine City Pokémon Center** _

A young nurse squeezed his way through two Chansey carrying an injured Pokémon to the rejuvenation chamber, storming to talk to his superior, who was giving instructions to one of her other underlings.

"Miss," the young nurse called out. "I can't find the Ledyba that was just dropped off."

"Over there," the head nurse just said with a nod towards the back of a room.

A young woman with long brown hair wearing a hospital gown and some bandages was playing with the Ledyba, along with several other mildly injured Pokémon, while feeding some of the more weakened ones.

"She's a patient sent here from the hospital," the head nurse observed. "Mutually advantageous: people recover faster when they get to be with Pokémon, and vice versa. Plus she's actually of help – I don't want to put a patient, an inexperienced one, no less, to work for us, but she insisted, and she seems to know Pokémon."

The younger nurse frowned. "But isn't she-"

"Yup, the gym leader, the one who took a year off for training," the head nurse said. "You're fairly new here, so I guess you wouldn't know this, but it's interesting... back when she was running the rock-type gym, people often approached her, wanting help training Pokémon or wanting her to use her technical skills, but she hardly talked to them and mostly stayed in the gym."

"She was a hikikomori?" the young nurse inquired, but the older one didn't seem to know what it meant.

"And look at her now," she said, "socializing with Pokémon _and_ humans. And volunteering to help. I don't know what happened, but she's changed."

"Will she be returning to the gym?"

"...I don't know. She talked a lot, but she wouldn't answer what happened to her that made her end up in the hospital in the first place. Or about where she had been all this time. She may be physically fine, but..."

"But?"

"Never mind. We have work to do."

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Saffron City General Hospital** _

Hilda had been confined to a hospital bed and moved to a private room after a mild furious episode of struggling against the doctors, nurses and even the security. At the moment, though, she was entirely still, staring out of the window and at two Pidgey sitting on top of a lamppost. Her other hand was hooked to an IV while the other had been handcuffed to the bed.

A visitor shuffled his way awkwardly into the room, the guard assigned to look after Hilda having skipped out for coffee. It was Wes, who had allowed himself to be patched up at the emergency room before fleeing and hiding in the underground path that ran below Saffron City for the rest of the day. He had somehow acquired a new coat, mostly similar to his older one except that it was blue. He was still carrying the bag Yellow had given him.

Hilda didn't react to Wes' presence, however.

"Hi, Hilda," Wes said carefully and quietly. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay. They sent Jas back to Olivine this morning."

Hilda just looked out of the window instead of Wes.

"I don't know how much I can say," Wes said, looking around the room carefully. "But... I'm going to make sure I finish what we started. I'll make sure that what happened there wasn't in vain. I-"

"Go away," Hilda whispered hoarsely.

Wes blinked. "I'm glad you can talk, I overheard the nurses talking, so I got... Hilda, I can't possibly begin to-"

"Please go away," Hilda said, more firmly this time.

Wes sighed. "I will," he said. "I'm... sorry. Goodbye, Hilda."

It saddened him to see Hilda in this shape, wearing hospital gowns and confined to a bed, but Wes had to go. He left the hospital quickly, aware that the security guards were giving him curious looks, leaving Saffron City as quickly as he could through a hidden access to the underground pathway, not surfacing until he reached the route connecting Saffron City and Lavender Town.

There, he took the Griseous Orb briefly from the bag. The previous day, he tried everything he could to destroy it, having bashed it with a rock, thrown it against a wall and dropped it from as high as he could, but the artifact remained spotless, not a scratch on it. What was worse, every time Wes took it out of the bag, he heard a voice whisper in his ear:

" _Don't be a fool. Bring the Griseous Orb to me – you'll be more powerful than any human who ever lived_."

"Shut up," Wes said and crammed the orb back into the bag.

Wes prepared to go. All he knew was he had to get to Johto, but he also knew that the Committee would soon realize what had happened, and they wouldn't stop before apprehending Wes. The thought of one day seeing Yellow again gave him hope – but something else made him even more positive about the future:

For the first time in his life, Wes felt that he could be meaningful. That he could be useful to other people. That he had a calling. And that was worth fighting any flunky that the ones in charge would send his way.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Several days later** _

_**Location: Lavender Volunteer Pokémon House** _

"Mr. Fuji!" a volunteer cried, running after the owner of the house, who was taking a short break.

Fuji took his eyes off the paper, the headline ' _Explosion at Navel Rock continues to baffle locals'_ taking up most of the front page.

"What is it, Reina?" he asked calmly.

"The Sandshrew finally ate some solid food," the volunteer said excitedly. "But then he went back to sleep. Isn't there anything we could-"

"A doctor was here a while ago to treat the worst injuries, but even then, Sandshrew didn't calm down. He almost attacked the doctor and had to be sedated. We can try, but I don't know how much we can do."

The volunteer looked saddened by this, and both her and Fuji looked at the corner of the room where the Sandshrew slept, though he kept tossing and turning and occasionally letting out a frightened squeal.

No one could know what Shrew saw when he closed his eyes: the visions of the skeletal Pokémon, the Distortion World, Bagon dying, Krane getting dragged away, Quill being caught up in a blaze of light that demolished the entire facility. But the worst thing was the image of a huge, centipede-like Pokémon with six claws, six wings and six legs, its eyes glowing at him as it taunted him.

Whatever it was, Shrew knew two things he had learned the moment he had touched the Griseous Orb: it was pissed, and it would come after him, one way or another.


End file.
